


Walking Under a Grey Light

by AnnaTaure



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Dream Sex, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Force Ghosts, Force-Sensitive Hux, M/M, Not a redemption fic, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-23
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-08-16 22:20:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 26
Words: 63,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8119705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaTaure/pseuds/AnnaTaure
Summary: As Kylo Ren recovers from his injuries, he is ordered to remain on the Finalizer while General Hux is arrested and sent to a grim place in the Outer Rim.On the other side of the galaxy, Rey tries to learn the ways of the Force and finds unexpected informations about her missing family.Perhaps it is the will of the Force that all of them, lost and wishing to find their own way, will meet on the grey border between Light and Dark, both and neither at the same time.





	1. Prologue: Floating Memories

**Author's Note:**

> Well, after reading zillions of fanfics, I finally gathered my laptop and some courage, and I wrote my own. It's certainly more challenging than I expected, particularly to avoid writing scenes too similar to other stories. But what's work without a good challenge?  
> Regarding the story itself, tags will be updated according to the content of every new chapter. Also, English is not my native language so should you spot any mistake, please point it and I'll modify the text.

_The jungles of Yavin 4 were brimming with hostile, carnivorous lifeforms, everybody had known that since the days of the galactic civil war, when the Alliance had built a base in one of the derelict temples half-buried under the green foliage._

_Ben would have been happy to be back there, man-hunting beetles and all, rather than suffer through another celebration of the Heroes of the Republic. Always the same speeches, the same old stories, the same people always wanting something from his family, or just five minutes with them, as if their fame could somehow rub on cowards who had done nothing but hide during the war._

_While the Chancellor was busy describing his great vision for the Republic, the young boy managed to slip away from the crowd and wandered in the corridors until he found himself before a door with a sign that informed passerby of a conference about the properties of nuclear fusion in the heart of stars and how to replicate it. That sounded more interesting than idealistic speeches but unfortunately, the conference was coming to an end, and the attendants were already leaving the room. Among middle-aged people, Ben noticed a boy not much older than himself, apparently lost in thought... or in the notes he had taken. That was uncommon, an adolescent dealing with such advanced stuff. He really stood out, Ben decided, with his lanky frame and red hair. On a whim, he walked towards the boy and asked:_

“ _Excuse me? Did you write down some notes during the conference?”_

_The other startled then nodded._

“ _Indeed. Are you interested?”_

“ _Well, I'm sure it's just a bit above my level,” Ben drawled, “but I'm curious about fusion reactors. I've heard the current ones are not very efficient.”_

 _That at least was not a lie. Ben had heard engineers and pilots alike complain a lot about it._ _The older boy made a copy of his notes and downloaded it into Ben's own datapad, much his delight._

“ _What are you doing there, all alone?” he inquired._

_Ben waved in the general direction of the celebrations._

“ _My parents are there but I did not feel like listening. It's always the same, anyway. And I don't want to hear my father telling his old jokes for the fifteenth time in a row. It's a miracle he accepted to come, mind you.”_

“ _Mine turned a bit asocial as well,” the red-haired boy admitted with a shrug._

_Then he checked his pad and let out a curse._

“ _Looks like I'm going to be late. I'm really sorry to leave you like this. At least I hope you'll find the notes interesting.”_

“ _I'm sure. Oh, I'm Ben, by the way.”_

“ _Brynden.”_

_Of course his parents had been cross with him, but the notes had kept him busy during all the journey back to Yavin. He had not felt so happy since the first time he had received a message from his cousins on Naboo._

* *

“Well,” Officer Unamo observed as a smile slowly pulled at Kylo Ren's lips, “at least the drugs are giving him sweet dreams.”

Hux nodded distractedly.

“The medic assured me he should wake up soon,” he said, casting a quick glance at the sleeping knight.

“They can't give him another shot?” Unamo inquired. “We're still far from Snoke's lair.”

“No, he's bordering on overdose already.”

The General had been quite shocked when the medics had listed the full extent of Ren's injuries. The wounds made by the scavenger's lightsaber would be easy enough to treat, but a bowcaster shot had literally punched a hole through the young man's side that would take a long time to heal, even with bacta. How Ren had been able to fight after that remained a mystery for Hux. Needless to say, many on board had not expected the knight to survive, nor had they thought he could take the pain so... silently. He had allowed himself one strangled yelp when the medic had peeled his tattered robes from his back, and that was all.

“Go take some rest, Sienta,” Hux said after a while. “Maker knows you need it.”

A grateful smile lit up the woman's sharp features and she quietly left the infirmary.

* *

Ren woke about two hours later, his eyes glassy and unfocused. He was not feeling much pain. In fact, he was not feeling much, full stop. Blinking several times, he finally spotted the grey and orange form of General Hux, sitting still on a bench. The man looked exhausted, even paler than usual, and he had certainly missed some meals... and showers too.

“Hux?” he called, his voice sounding hoarse and weak.

The General stirred from his slumped position on the bench.

“Ah, you are awake. Good.”

He stepped closer to Ren's bed.

“You'll be glad to know that our beloved Leader has generously granted you ten days to heal, before you are brought to him.”

“Fine,” Kylo mumbled. “Where are... ?”

“The Finalizer. You've been out for days. Which was probably better for everyone involved, given the injuries you suffered.”

The younger man managed a nod. Then, surprising Hux, he asked:

“How many... did we... lose?”

“Almost half the staff on Starkiller,” Hux admitted, feeling his face burn with shame. “Phasma made it, though, and I would recommend not to piss her off too much.”

“Would not dream of it. Thank you.”

The General merely lifted an eyebrow.

“For picking me up,” Ren clarified.

“Snoke's orders,” Hux dismissed, though if he was honest with himself, he would not have been able to leave Ren to die alone in the snow, orders or not.

“You could... have told him I was dead. And he... surely did not order you to... stay by my side and be such a good nurse.”

Hux sighed.

“Fine! I was worried. Happy, now?” he barked.

Ren repressed a chuckle.

“Who could have guessed? General Hux has a heart, after all.”

 _He's just high on painkillers_ _and probably delirious from his fever_ , Hux thought. _Nothing more_.


	2. Bones of Contention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not read Bloodlines nor Aftermath, so my interpretation of Ben or Hux's respective childhoods is totally non-canon.  
> I also imagined that, after the fall of the Empire, the galaxy must have looked a lot like France in 1945, personal revenge mixing with justice to create a state of imbalance, and even more resentement.

If Rey had thought that bringing Luke Sywalker back to the Resistance would solve their problems in a day, or even in a week, she had been sorely mistaken. When the old Master had decided to leave his refuge immediately and head back to D'Qar, the young woman had imagined it would give a real boost to the troops. And it did. The pilots and technicians were absolutely overjoyed to have him back, even those who had never met him (those perhaps more than the others, in fact). But the truth was, there were more disagreements between Skywalker and the head of the Resistance (namely, his sister) than anything else. Among other things, Master Luke had some choice words regarding the Republic's management of the galaxy during the past three decades, and Rey learned some things she would rather have ignored.

The most shocking, perhaps, had been the brutal purge that had followed the battle of Jakku. They had lost count, at some points, of how many people had died during those four years. Words such as deportation, arbitrary executions and the like had been used, and she quickly understood that her master was not exactly in favor of another centralized political system. Now that Rey was aware of that discordance, she started to notice the officers were just as divided over the question. The older ones, such as Leia and Ematt, were firmly pro-Republic, using the old one as a model, while the younger, Statura most of all, wished for a federal state. Poe did not think it mattered much, though.

“First we get rid of the imperial wannabes. And _then_ we'll have all the time in the world to bicker about how we'll organize the galaxy, right?” he asked during dinnertime.

“And then what?” Jessika Pava countered. “We're free to start another civil war?”

Sensing another row in the making, Rey quietly left the table and went back to her room. Master Skywalker had settled next door and she saw his head poking in the corridor when she arrived. She could not help but smile. He was a strange mixture of old wise man and mischievous boy, and sometimes (quite often, if she was honest), the boy won out.

“Political quarrels again?” he asked.

Rey nodded and, forgetting her plans for a shower and a novel on her holopad, joined her master so she could sort her ideas.

“At this rate, the First Order will just have to bring some beers and enjoy the show while we tear each other's throats”, she groaned. “I'd rather spend more time working on my memories, but the guys are always asking for help, a service here and a bit of spying on their girlfriend there to be sure she’s not cheating, or can I just do that little trick with the cutlery? Stars above, I'm not some beast in a freak show!”

Luke took her hands in his and smiled comfortingly.

“I know. I faced such reactions in my time. If it can help, I have a mission that should get us out of here for some days, if not more.”

“What kind of mission?” Rey asked immediately, her eyes brightening.

“I told you that, so far, I had no idea where your father is dwelling, but I know someone who could give us some tips. Or Wedge could be working with him already.”

She dragged him into a wookie-hug, a huge grin on her face. Luke pretended she was crushing his ribs, an old joke between them now.

“Thank you, Uncle.”

She had taken to call him that to state they were related but in truth, he was a distant cousin.

Before the whole debacle at the academy, both Luke and Ben had searched for their biological family. The Skywalkers had been a dead end: they had found some bits of information about Anakin's mother Shmi, her husband Cliegg Lars and her stepson Owen (who had raised a young Luke decades prior), but nothing more. Padme Naberrie's family, however, had given more successful results. Her older sister Sola had three daughters, and the youngest of them, Freya, had been a diplomat for Naboo until she had met one Wedge Antilles. Luke admitted that he had been delighted to play matchmaker for his cousin and his friend, and even more when the two had married. Rehani, nicknamed "Rey" by her father, had been born a year after that. Rey had cried and ranted at the injustice of it all when Luke had told her Freya had been killed, most probably on Snoke's orders. But after days and days of depression, she had remembered that the rest of her family was still alive, somewhere in the galaxy, and she desired nothing more than to meet them at last.

“Don't thank me so soon,” he warned. “This doesn't mean you'll stop training. We're not going on holidays.”

But Rey was far too happy to care, though her training was not exactly a walk in the park. It had begun gently enough with long treks all around the island. Then Rey had learned to swim. The thought that one could move in the water only by the strength of their arms and legs had left her quite skeptical at first. The feeling of the cold liquid flowing around her limbs had been unpleasant to begin with, then she had slowly grown to like that sensation of being weightless. After that, she had tried to levitate pebbles. Very funny when there were only two or three stones, not so much when she had been ordered to keep twenty of them floating above her head while chatting with her master and R2. The balance exercises had looked easier: she was used to performing acrobatics in the ruined structures of the destroyers crashed on Jakku. Using a saber had proven more difficult than she thought, since her borrowed weapon was not fitting her small hands. Anakin Skywalker had been a tall man with broad shoulders, and not used to being subtle. A bit like his grandson, in fact.

“You will have to build another soon,” Luke had stated.“A delicate step, if you don't wish to be turned into smoking ashes. Well… I managed to do it, after all, so a mechanics as talented as you are should not have too many problems.”

She had grinned at that, delighted by the compliment, and he had smiled back, a bit tired but full of warmth.

She had wanted to ask him so many questions… The answers had almost made her dizzy. She had suspected some of them. The very few memories she had from before Jakku showed a man with blue eyes dressed in a long brown cloak, holding her hand and telling her stories, a tall dark-haired boy in light grey clothes offering her a piggy back ride under the trees... She had remembered that Luke had been her father's best friend. Seeing her parents' faces on a holopicture had been a surprise, however. She had almost completely forgotten them. R2 had shared some stories of his own. It had been rather bittersweet…

* *

To the crew's surprise, once he was off painkillers and out of a bacta tank, Kylo Ren did not revert back to his previous behavior. He still haunted the Finalizer, limping from the healing wound in his side - Dr Zern's orders, so he would not lose mobility in his lower limbs - but he had entirely stopped terrorizing the staff. He had not even started another of his now infamous fights with the General, though there was no lack of opportunities for disagreeing and quarreling.

Ren could feel how grateful they were for that, and how they still expected him to explode at some point. His former self would have certainly obliged; however he felt much calmer now, more stable. If he was completely honest with himself, the whole shift had begun right after he had dreamt about his time on Coruscant – his first meeting with Brynden Hux, more precisely. Thinking of the older man had a soothing effect on his troubled mind. The unexpected kindness provided by the General had helped, no doubt.

In spite of his wounds, Kylo Ren felt better than ever. Even the scaring mess on his face did not deter him that much. He knew he was not handsome and had been mercilessly teased as a child for his large ears and long nose. The thick line of white, gleaming skin across his jaw, right cheek and the bridge of his nose was a reminder that he would have to be more cautious in the near future. Nothing else. At least he had kept both his eyes, even if a significant amount of flesh and skin had been burnt away. The bowcaster wound had done... interesting things to a small part of his intestines (Zern had promised not to cut away too much) and one of his kidneys, so the good medic had advised him to take it easy. For once, Kylo had obeyed without complaining. He had received his fair share of flesh wounds over the years but knew when to take some time to heal. The only thing left to treat was his unresponsive right arm, but Zern had assured that the limb did not need to be replaced – cybernetics for the damaged nerves would be enough.

Of course, he was not naive enough to believe the respite would last and so he decided to make the most of the time he had left. First of all, he needed to understand the dynamics aboard the Finalizer a bit better. Certainly, he already knew the basics: who trusted who and who wanted a promotion and the likes... but it was not enough for the little... project that had formed in his mind while he was lying in the medbay.

Useful notes: even after Starkiller, the crew trusted Hux absolutely. He was, admittedly, a decent boss - no one ever got throttled to death for an honest mistake - and he liked his subordinates obedient but creative. Through the Force, Ren experienced the collective worry of the bridge crew and the technicians, the two categories that interacted the most with the General; they were afraid he would do something radical to himself, or be executed, and they wondered about his potential successor. If Ren could remain in Hux's good graces, his goal would be easier to reach, since he would have those fifty thousands people as backup. And if they could convince other commanders in the Fleet... First he had to discuss it with Hux. And he seriously needed the calming influence the man had on him since Starkiller.

Strange, that. Hux used to get on his nerves like no one else in the galaxy and yet... He went to Hux's quarters and found the door open, the man himself sitting at his desk. Kylo had been there once already, and the place still looked as monastic as it had months ago. It was also smaller than Ren had expected, the only luxury there being a tiny kitchen, so that when the General was truly overworked he could prepare his own meals and eat at his desk without wasting time going to the mess hall. There were files everywhere, and nothing too personal. Nothing except the large, _orange_ lothcat perched on a chair, watching Ren's every move.

“Mreow?”

Kylo turned toward Hux, who was typing a report on his datapad, sitting on his bed.

“Good evening. Forgive the curiosity, but I don't remember seeing this... animal before.”

The officer smiled fondly and reached to pat the cat’s head.

“Millie is a rather shy creature,” he said. “She must have hidden somewhere when you visited. The bridge crew bought her as a gift for my first year on the Finalizer.”

“And they died her fur orange as a joke?” Kylo inquired with a smirk.

“Not at all. I know the color is quite uncommon but she was born this way. Unamo thought it would be hilarious.”

“Of course she did,” Kylo grumbled. “You are far too lenient with that woman, I'd say.”

Hux let out a low chuckle, then switched his pad off.

“Why are you here, Ren? Even I can sense trouble.”

The younger man sat on the edge of the bed and huffed.

“It's taking too long,” he said finally. “Knowing Snoke, he should have already sent someone to retrieve me. I don't know what he is planning but I don't like it... And I'm sure it won't be good for you either. Perhaps we should -”

“You're afraid.”

It was not a question.

“Yes”, Kylo confessed, unashamed. “I don't know what he will do with me this time. I still feel a tiny bit human and... I'd rather stay this way. I don't want to become like Jacin Ren, who thrives on others' suffering and...”

“On yours as well?”

Hux knew, thanks to Zern, the extent of the... mistreatment Kylo had suffered at the hands of his so-called colleagues when he had joined them, and then along his years with Snoke. The expanse of scarred skin on his back alone was nauseating.

The knight kept his head down, refusing to look at the General. Unexpectedly, he felt the tip of Hux's fingers brushing against his head, then touching his hair carefully. Ren had not received any form of comfort, physical or otherwise, for a very long time so he did not move away.

“Snoke won't like this... You, just being your own man. Planning to get rid of him...”

“Wouldn't be the first thing I hide from him,” Kylo said with a shrug.

Hux sat by his side, his hand coming back to Ren's hair almost immediately.

“It's about the girl, isn't it? You refused to kill her when you turned against your uncle and you dropped her on Jakku. I understood that much from your rants while you were sedated.”

“With a block on her memories,” Ren confirmed. “A five-year-old does not remember much, so that was easy.”

He closed his eyes and slowly relaxed, Hux's fingers still playing with his dark curls.

“While I was out cold, I remembered the first time we'd met,” Kylo said suddenly. “I was twelve and you, seventeen, I think. You had been listening to a conference. Funny, the things you can find in your own mind, eh?”

Hux had stopped carding through his hair, and Ren noticed that the lothcat had left her perch to join her master on the bed. His eyes closed, he felt the cat jump onto his lap, purring softly. On his right, Hux was leaning lightly against his shoulder. For a while, between the regular breathing of the other man and a lapful of satisfied lothcat, Ren felt at peace.


	3. Arrivals and Departures

The Falcon almost felt crowded, Rey mused as she watched Finn getting hopelessly trounced at dejarik _again_. It was his fifth rematch, this time against Poe. It was Chewie's turn in the cockpit, but with Poe, Finn, Master Luke, BB-8 and herself in the passengers' area they hardly had any room left to move around. R2-D2 had been left at the base with C-3PO, as the two old ‘friends’ had a lot of things to discuss, the little astromech needing to catch up with several years worth of memories. As the high command had not scheduled any long-ranged operation for the time being, the pilot and the ex-trooper had insisted to "escort" Rey and her master, and she suspected it had more to do with the heavy atmosphere at the base than with security issues.

On their way to Ithor, Rey and Poe had decided to teach Finn how to play dejarik and other games, but the young man still struggled to understand the _point_ of it. Apart from physical training and the mess hall, there was no real entertainment in a trooper's life (though some card games, holoseries and books were allowed, but he had not been tempted at the time) and Finn had not fully adapted to the change of scenery yet. Most of his time in the Resistance had been taken by his recovery and physical therapy, so he had missed a lot of opportunities to socialize and learn more about civilian life. Poe was certainly very enthusiastic to show his friend every trick and good stuff he knew. Rey smiled fondly as she watched them. They were both still blissfully unaware, but half the staff was betting on when Poe would confess his feelings, or when Finn would realize he was carrying a rather obvious torch for the pilot. Soon, she hoped. She wanted her friends happy. The last day of their trip seemd to last forever but they finally landed on Ithor ad scheduled and Rey forgot her impatience for a moment when she discovered the luxuriant jungle that covered the part of the planet where their contact was waiting for them. It looked nothing like Takodana: the atmosphere there was warmer and moist, and she could not see any lake as near Maz Kanata’s lair. She was going to like this place, she knew.

“Millenium Falcon,” the voice of a traffic controller announced, “you are allowed to land. Pad 31, western sector. Have a nice stay on Ithor and thank you for your visit.”

“Thank you, control,” Poe said, smiling even if the man could not see him.

The Falcon landed on a docking platform surrounded by dense and colorful vegetation some minutes after that contact. A man was waiting for them near the doors: dark-skinned with thick, greying hair, a well-trimmed mustache and goatee, a bit of a potbelly and dressed in high-quality clothes, mostly blue with a touch of gold thread here and there, and a pair of highly polished boots. By contrast, Luke looked a bit shabby. Rey saw her teacher smile and shake his head slightly.

“Some things never change,” he said, chuckling.

Once they got out of the ship, the man walked towards them, his arms wide open, a grin on his wrinkled face.

“Luke, my friend! It is good to see you again. You should come more often to my humble dwelling.”

“Something humble? For you?” Luke answered, arching an eyebrow. “On the outside, perhaps. The buildings look reasonably _humble_ , I'll grant you that.”

He chuckled again as the other man glared at him.

“I'm glad to see you as well, Lando,” Luke added, accepting a hug from his friend.“This new business seems to suit you well.”

Rey and Finn exchanged a glance. Lando? This was Lando Calrissian, the almost legendary smuggler turned businessman turned General who had taken part in the attack of the second Death Star? The young man shrugged. They had been walking among legends for months, now. So why not another one?

“And you bring a bit of fresh blood with you, this time...” Lando was saying. “No, Chewie, don't look at me like this, I still like you but I like seeing some new faces from time to time. So, who are these fine gentlemen and the charming lady?”

Luke bent slightly at the waist and introduced the trio with a flourish that made Rey giggle behind her hand.

“This is Poe Dameron, X-Wing pilot and the leader of the Resistance squadrons.”

“Ah, Kes and Shara’s boy. Last time I saw you, you were what… six or seven, I think. Pleased to meet you again, Commander,” Lando said, extending a hand.

“The honor is mine, sir,” Poe answered, bowing slightly and shaking the offered hand vigorously.

“Here is Mr Finn, who recently defected from the First Order,” Luke went on.

“Very brave of you, my dear boy. Should you ever need a job when the war is done, I'll be happy to provide you one.”

Lando gave him a gentle tap on the shoulder. Finn lowered his head, his cheeks burning from suddenly being the focus of all the group. He still needed to work on accepting attention.

“And Rey,” Luke concluded, without more details.

Apparently, details were not needed, as. Lando’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Rey? As in Rey Antilles? Wedge's little girl?”

“Not so little any more, but yes, you're right. I was hoping you could tell us where Wedge is living,” Luke asked hopefully.

Lando shook his head.

“Forget that,” he said with a grin. “You stay here and I'll tell him to come back at once. He's still hell-bent on recruiting for the cause, but I am sure he will put it on hold for his baby.”

Rey was absolutely beaming. Luke had told her all the popular stories circulating among pilots and everything he could remember about the famous Wedge Antilles, of course, but at last, she would meet her father for the first time in more than fifteen years. She was so ecstatic, literally floating on a little cloud, that she missed the quick words Luke and Lando exchanged regarding the situation of the federalist movement.

* *

The Finalizer enjoyed another week of peace – and heavy repairs - before they reached Snoke's headquarters (a planet that, in Hux’s opinion, barely deserved the title, barren and remote as it was) and the Supreme Leader sent one of his six remaining Knights on the ship. The Knight left his shuttle and went straight to the bridge, shoving aside those who did not move fast enough, including some unlucky troopers who dared ask for his accreditations. Hux and Kylo Ren were waiting for him in front of the wide viewports. Even without the help of the Force, the General could tell that Ren was extremely nervous and ill-at-ease. He would have even labelled that behavior as ‘frightened’.

“This is Jacin Ren,” Kylo whispered. “It’s the worst thing that could have happened.”

“Gentleman,” Hux greeted the newcomer. “I thought Lord Ren was supposed to join you later, on his own, once he was fully healed?”

“He is not here for me,” Kylo muttered.

“Indeed,” the masked man answered. “The Supreme Leader is most... displeased with your failure on Starkiller Base, General, and ordered me to deliver his punishment. You will relinquish your command and follow me.”

Kylo felt compelled to interfer, but Hux put two fingers on his wrist and the younger man backed down wordlessly. Jacin Ren did not miss the gesture.

“No need to worry so much for your favorite pet, Master Ren. I can see he had you well trained,” the second knight chuckled.

The young man knew the tip of his ears had turned red with shame, and through the Force, he sensed several officers silently fuming behind him. Hux raised his hands in a placating gesture. If someone drew his blaster and tried to shoot the intruder, Snoke would punish the whole crew of the destroyer. Hux had not left the ship yet, he was still responsible for his staff and troopers.

“Sir…” Mitaka began to protest.

Hux shook his head, not wishing to witness his Lieutenant being Force-choked _once more_.

“Remain at your post, whatever happens,” he ordered Mitaka. “This goes for all the staff. And for you as well”, he told the two stormtroopers walking towards him as he was leaving the bridge. “Show the way,” he ordered the masked knight.

“As you wish, General.”

 _“You won't be coming back,”_ Kylo's voice warned in his mind.

_“Then kill Snoke and be nice to my successor. Don't mix it.”_

Kylo reluctantly let out a mental laugh of his own at that. Hux sensed his anxiety receding as he left the bridge of his beloved ship, probably for the last time. As soon as the group disappeared behind the heavy blast doors, everyone on the bridge turned towards Kylo Ren. He sensed no hostility emanating from them. He could detect fear, anger, however, and a lot of bewildered minds.

“What, exactly, are they going to do?” Unamo asked with frost in her voice.

Hux had been her friend almost since they had joined the Fleet after the Academy, so Ren would have to thread carefully with her.

“I don't know,” Kylo admitted honestly. “I could only catch a name in Jacin's mind. Zaddja... It's a remote planet, somewhere in the Unknown Regions... and there is a research facility built under its surface. What they do there, I have no idea. I should not even know it exists at all.”

“Is there anything we can do?” Mitaka said in a sad little voice.

A month ago, he would not even have dared to address Kylo Ren directly for fear of being choked again, or worse. That he felt brave enough to do so was a testament to his loyalty, if not his devotion, to Hux.

“If you try to free him the usual way, they will cut you down without hesitation. You are nothing to them,” Kylo warned. “I'll have to find... other methods.”

“But can we not help you?” Thanisson insisted.

Kylo shook his head.

“I must rely on the Force, and I don’t want to incriminate any of you. Do you job as usual and pretend you don’t know anything about my own investigations.”

The officers on the bridge nodded their assent without a word, and went back to work as if nothing had happened. They would let Ren operate his magic. But should he fail, they would take the matter in their own hands.


	4. My Family, Right or Wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We'll discuss some Mengele-level experiments here, so if it's disturbing you, the section starts at "Rey should have been asleep" and ends with "she felt as if she was on fire."

After three days at Interplan Mining's headquarters, both Poe and Finn left to return to D'Qar with Chewie and the Falcon, with promises from Rey to introduce them to her father as soon as possible. A longer absence would lead to suspicion and Master Skywalker did not want that, no more than he wanted to cause any trouble to these boys. What they did not know could not hurt them (and would not hurt Luke and Lando’s plans either). There was more at stake than just a family reunion. Rey had finally noticed his many _a parte_ with Lando and asked answers. She certainly did not expect her old master to admit that Lando was a federalist supporter and that himself and her father had helped the cause before Ben's fall. All three men had watched the New Republic betray all its ideals one after the other and decided together to join the new political party born after the end of the civil war. The destruction of Luke's academy and his flight to escape the Knights of Ren had put an end to that... for a time. Wedge had definitely cut his ties with the Republic after the Senate had refused to grant protection to the families of Luke's fallen students – twice, arguing that Master Skywalker’s refusal to put his Jedis under the Chancellor’s orders left the Republic free of any responsibilty regarding their fate. That attitude had directly led to the death of Rey's mother and many other people when Snoke had sent his Knights after them. Curiously, Kylo Ren had not taken part in that second slaughter. Had Snoke been worried that his new apprentice would be tempted by the Light and a form of sympathy?

Rey promptly forgot those questions, however, when Lando received a encrypted message announcing that former Commander Antilles would be on Ithor on the next afternoon. She was giggling and hopping like a little girl and for once, Luke did not object. He had not seen Wedge for more than a decade and missed his old friend deeply. He did grumble, though, when Lando offered Rey an opportunity to search through the firm's "official" wardrobe (a complete set of clothes in various sizes and colours that the firm employees could wear during formal events) for something she liked. Much to his relief, she chose an outfit more colorful than her usual ones, though still simple and with a very decent cut. Light grey trousers and a peach-colored tunic with a little touch of metallic thread at the collar complimented her appearance rather well. That afternoon saw the three of them standing on a small platform barely above the canopy, waiting while an old X-Wing T65 approached the landing pad.

“Lando, you did tell him Rey was here, I hope?” Luke whispered.

“Nope. Just that we had a huge surprise for him.”

“If he gets a heart attack, I promise I'll cut you into very thin slices with this lightsaber.”

When the X-Wing landed, Luke had to physically prevent Rey from rushing to her father and opted for a bit of diplomacy. Familiar faces first. Wedge wasted no time grabbing Luke into a bone-crushing hug that the old Jedi returned with equal strength. Lando was a little less enthusiastic, certainly for the sake of his fine clothes, but his smile was just as warm as Luke’s.

“Guys, you have no idea how glad I am to see you at last,” Antilles said with a slightly wild grin.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Luke commented with a smirk.

Lando rolled his eyes while Wedge gave a light cuff on his friend's head. Then he noticed Rey, standing several steps behind his friends.

“And who is the young lady? A new student of yours, Luke?”

“Rather a former one who came back.”

Wedge took a better look and all color slowly drained from his face.

“Lando...” Luke groaned, his fingers brushing over the hilt of his weapon.

However, Antilles did not faint nor did he die from the shock. He had led Rogue Squadron after all. Nonetheless, it was a strange sight to see him reach hesitantly and touch Rey's cheek oh so lightly, as if he feared she would vanish into thin air. He made her turn a bit, looking at the three little buns she was still wearing, then asked in a very little voice:

“Luke, is she really... ?”

The old Jedi was grinning and there was absolutely nothing wrong with his eyes, thank you very much. Just a bit of dust sticking into them.

“Yes, my friend. It's your Rehani. All grown-up,” Luke replied with a bright smile.

“And on her way to become a fine Jedi, from what I gathered,” Lando chimed in.

This time, Wedge was truly left speechless.

* *

Father and daughter spent the following two days talking and trading memories, old pictures and stories. Luke let them process at their own pace, so that his student could find her balance again. Her happiness was so strong he could not help grinning like a fool and Lando was affected as well by this tidal wave of pure joy. However, Rey soon got down from her little cloud, since she had a lot of questions to ask regarding how she had been left on Jakku and how, by the Maker, Ben could have fallen so far into darkness. From the very few things she remembered about him, he had been a rather shy and awkward boy, but still kind, at least to her.

“You could say the whole kriffin' mess started even before he was born,” Wedge stated. “Right?”

Lando shook his head his head with a sigh.

“It was just one disaster after the other,” he said. “First of all, nor Han nor Leia were ready to have a kid that soon. Ben was born... well, roughly nine months after Endor – I don't think I need to explain the mechanics. He was a complete surprise and, as I said, arrived much too soon. You have no idea of the mess we had to deal with at that time...”

Rey hid a smile behind her hand.

“Han did not know what a real family was and Leia... not to say that Bail Organa and Queen Breha did not love her and did not raise her properly, but she was used to seeing politics and desk work go before family time, so she thought she could do the same with Ben.”

“Except that the boy manifested his abilities much sooner than any of us and was excessively powerful for such a young child,” Luke added. “I had warned them that Ben would likely be Force-sensitive, and a strong one, but for them, it could just _not_ happen.”

“Why? I don't get it,” Rey said with a frown. “It runs in the family, right?”

“Too many dreadful experiences with the Force,” her father said. “Most of them involving one Darth Vader. That would make _anyone_ a bit wary about Force-users as a rule.”

“When he started to complain about voices in his head, rather than call me, they sent him to a psychomedic, of all people,” Luke sighed, while Wedge rolled his eyes. “When I _finally_ could take him for training, he was terrified his parents were sending him to an asylum and thought he was losing his mind. You were the only one that could make him open up a bit,” he added for Rey's benefit, “but I'm afraid it was too little, too late.”

“The government also used the three of them as a walking advertisement for the success of the Rebellion. Equal opportunities for all, whether you’re a scoundrel or a princess, that sort of things...” Wedge groused. “Too much pressure on them. Everybody wanted to know what the kid would do, would they make him a diplomat, a Jedi, a pilot, everything at once? They could not take a step out of their home without having journalists dogging them, even with Chewie threatening the bloody steelpeckers with his bowcaster. It was a nightmare. Ben was scared witless, I remember.”

Luke went on:

“Too many emotions in the same place, and many of them negative. Envy, jealousy, hate towards his parents or himself... That makes a lot for a child of three or four.”

“I'm starting to believe _I_ was the lucky one,” Rey whispered.

The three men nodded.

“Well... at least you were out of Snoke's reach. He never knew about your existence.”

“Do you think...” Wedge mused, “that Ben could snap out of it and come back?”

“Not without help, I'm afraid. I sensed a shift in him, though,” Luke said. “He is far more stable and sometimes the Dark in him is not so powerful. There is balance in him again. Perhaps he found someone kind and considerate to take care of him.”

Lando considered that.

“So... there's still hope for him?”

“Possibly. He remembers Rey and we could play on his feelings for her,” Luke mused. “Don't worry, I don't mean he loves you, not the way you seem to imagine.”

“He wants to be my teacher,” she said, still processing the possibility.

Lando chuckled.

“Well, _that_ , at least, did not change. Even as a boy he wanted you as his first padawan.”

Wedge nodded.

“Can we consider it a good thing that Snoke did not make him forget it?”

Luke shrugged.

“I should hope so. I say it's worth a try.”

* *

The "get-the-crew-to-trust-you" operation was going on smoothly, in Kylo's opinion. He did not mind so much remaining on the Finalizer and supposed that the ship felt a little bit like home, now. Another thought he would have to hide from Snoke, or the old man would call him back to his side faster than light. However, he was not particularly fond of replacing Hux as commanding officer, even though Phasma and Unamo helped him with the mountain of paperwork that went with the job. Fortunately, a permanent replacement was sent not even two days after Hux's departure, without any news regarding the General's fate.

Ren was pleasantly surprised when he discovered who had been dispatched to the Finalizer. Admiral Fior Adama was in her mid-forties, not so common for a First Order officer, barely reached Kylo's shoulders and was, just as Hux had once described her, "the most pugnacious little bitch this side of the galaxy" who had designed a lot of the newest safety features on the TIE fighters. Her only indulgence was to wear her light brown hair in a braided crown that partially covered her ears rather than the regulation bun used by several women on the bridge and among the technical crew. She greeted Kylo for the officers' first meeting with a firm handshake and a “Pleased to meet you, Lord Ren” that betrayed no fear of his person. He was going to enjoy working with that one, he thought.

She took the chair at the far end of the table – Hux's chair – and gestured to the one on her right. Kylo promptly sat and waited. He was not disappointed. Adama was a no-nonsense, blunt commander and she expected everyone to go on working as usual. Ren included, of course. Well, he could live with that. Soon, however, he would have to attend more pressing issues than the Admiral's standards for the fleet. Hux had reached his destination, and he had not been sent there to supervise the skeleton garrison manning the defenses of Zaddja, far from it. Immediately, Kylo's resting periods became an unending succession of nightmares, feeling Jacin's hands on him… no, was it on Hux? And dizziness and disorientation and pain, so much pain at every step. He could not storm the place to free the other man, that would likely lead to their capture and execution. Other ways, he had said...

* *

_Rey should have been asleep. Or rather, a part of her was sleeping, while the other found itself wandering in a strange dream. She was standing in a dark corridor, probably in some underground base. She felt ill-at-ease there, as if something was altering the Force and the energy flow was somehow sending her a distorted feedback. Rey sensed a familiar presence behind her and turned sharply on her heels, but Kylo Ren remained where he stood, motionless. For the first time, Rey got a close look at the massive scar on his face. It did not make him look less dangerous, nor less attractive, in his own unconventional way. He was considering her with a thoughtful gaze. Sadness seemed to roll out of him in thick waves. “_

_You dragged me here,” she accused._

_He nodded._

_“Why? This place is so... cold. It reeks of pain and death.”_

_“And there are people here who need your help,” he said. “The First Order cannot interfere; I cannot either, for I am not even supposed to know this planet exists at all, even though there are some here who are very dear to me.”_

_Rey shivered, looking around with a growing fear of what she was about to discover. Her animosity forgotten for the time being, she turned to Ren for answers._

_“What are they doing here? It looks like a laboratory of some sort, but I don't recognize the devices they're using. Never seen them on the ships I scavenged on Jakku.”_

_The ghostly form of Kylo Ren walked towards her. That dream version of him did not bear any weapon and Rey relaxed slightly, though she could not help glancing at the long scar splitting his face._

_"Follow me. Be ready to leave as soon as I tell you."_

_"Why should -" “_

_To answer you question, they are experimenting on prisoners, trying to understand how individuals can tap into the Force, how the connection appears in their genetics, how it could be reproduced artificially. The process is long and painful. And...”_

_“... that's not how the Force works?” Rey suggested._

_“I would think not,” he answered tersely._

_“Brace yourself.”_

_They walked side by side in the white, sterile corridors of the facility. Men and droids passed by them as if they were wraiths. The whole thing was absolutely creepy, Rey thought. But if there were sentients detained and tortured there... When they reached the main laboratory, the young woman felt as if someone had violently punched her in the gut. The intense suffering she could feel here was clawing at her mind, blinding her... until a hand on her shoulder brought her back to a minimum of reality. She looked around and saw rows and rows of tanks, almost all closed with someone inside, hooked up on intravenous and various machines._

_“What...” she whispered, “what's happening? How..."_

_“First the subjects are injected with a mix of chemicals. They are left alone for a day or two, then the test phase begins. They are put in... dangerous, potentially lethal situations, and the… ahem, scientists studying them check if they manifest any kind of Force-related ability to protect themselves from harm. If not, well... either they die or they are drugged with a different cocktail, and so on. Until physical death. Or they remain brain-dead.”_

_Under his cold, detached tone, she caught his disgust and shame. Not matter how wild and reckless he could be, even Ren could not stand such degrading procedures._

_A high-pitched scream suddenly echoed under the ceiling and Rey almost jumped out of her - metaphorical - skin. She felt something very dark creeping towards her and a tall silhouette, dressed in a fashion similar to Kylo's, entered the room, walking to one of the tanks. The creature opened it and dragged its occupant towars the surface of whatever substance they used to keep their prisoners in hibernation, the breathing mask still tied over the captive's face._

_“What's that?” Rey asked in a hushed voice._

_“Jacin Ren,” Kylo replied. “For your sake, I hope you never meet him. Do NOT touch him!” he growled suddenly, and it took a moment for Rey to realize he was not talking to her._

_The other knight was looking intently at the man he was holding up by the neck, the lower part of his body still floating in the tank. Human, from what Rey could see, bone-thin, his face covered by a thick, reddish beard. He was dangling in Jacin's hold like a broken doll._

_“So... I've heard you tried to drown yourself again, little one? Still defiant, it seems. I will have to change that, though I understand why the First Knight liked you so much. I wonder how many times he let you fuck him... Or was it the other way round?”_

_The other man stubbornly refused to open his mouth and Jacin Ren let him fall back into the tank._

_“Don't worry. We'll find him another pet to keep him warm at night. But you have earned yourself another session, little one.”_

_“Leave.”_

_Kylo gripped Rey's arm and forced her to turn away from the scene. She could vaguely hear several people coming in, muffled shouts and a pained whimper, before the knight pushed her behind him. “_

_Leave, please. It's too much.”_

_His face contorted in pain and she felt as if she was on fire._

* *

She woke up tangled in her sheets, screaming in abject terror. Luke almost immediately rushed to her side.

“What is it? Long, slow breaths... that's right... can you tell me?”

“I felt... someone was in trouble... in pain. It hurt so much. And there was an echo... another who sensed it and was so... heartbroken...”

“A name or a face?” Luke asked gently.

“Ben was there. I think he... guided me into this vision. He... he was taking someone else's pain onto himself... he... he must have been the echo I felt... I'm sorry, it's all blurry.”

“Take your time...”

“Do you have a pad? I must write everything down before I forget it.”

He fumbled a bit to find what she asked, but managed to hand her the datapad quite quickly and the young woman typed down everything she could remember. When she was done, he held his hand and a glass floated between his fingers to be filled with cold water. Rey drank it all in one go and dropped back on her pillows, groaning as a massive headache started to form.

“Don't tell my father,” she begged. “He's so happy right now, I don't want him to worry.”

“I understand. Give me your notes, please. I'll see what we can do from there.”

Rey handed him the datapad and watched from under her blankets as Luke read it, his expression growing more and more worried with each line.


	5. Little Liars in Dark Places

Several days later, they were back at the base, Luke had given the notes to the high command after some careful editing, and Rey was picking at her breakfast rather than eating it in the mess hall, still bracketed by Poe and Finn (and let's not forget theit pet droid, leaning against Poe’s leg like a cat and beeping softly from time to time), when Jessika Pava burst into the room and zeroed in on the trio.

“Oh, oh,” Dameron said with a sly smile. “I smell something important.”

“You tell me,” Jess shot back. “Get your asses in the main briefing room. Statura wants to launch a mission.”

The three friends exchanged a smirk before following the pilot, BB-8 rolling behind them beeping comments.

The last six months had been, for the Resistance, a long serie of travels from one system to another to avoid being detected and caught by the First Order. They had all understood they had to leave D'Qar before receiving a visit from the enemy fleet and the officers had been expecting a particularly harsh time after that, similar to the wandering that had followed the defeat on Yavin IV, then the debacle on Hoth. But the events surrounding Starkiller Base and the rumour of Luke Skywalker's reappearance had generated two shockwaves in the Galaxy, one favourable to the Resistance, the other to the First Order.

Without joining the little army officially, some smugglers and other artisanaux transporters offered their services (such as providing supplies, food, ammunitions, carrying passengers between systems…) to the Resistance with very attractive prices, i.e. very low, as the small guerrilla could not afford anything expensive now that its main financial support had disappeared.

On the other side, the First Order was still gaining supporters, thanks to its economical policy that brought a true relief to systems once forsaken by the Republic – and some whispered that a think tank in the Order wanted to install a widely decentralized regim that would leave much more autonomy to the allied systems while the army would play the part of an arbiter between them and ensure the safety of travellers and merchant ships. In fact, this experiment had already begun and was giving its first promising results.

Rey wondered what the high command had invented this time, such a short time after the last mission Poe and his guys had just finished.

The room was crowded and she had to remain standing near the door, all the seats and tables being already taken. Statura was standing close to the holoprojector, Ackbar at his side. Rey caught a glance of General Organa on the other side of the room with one of the radar operators, but she quickly forgot about trying to reach the two women. Anyway, with BB-8 wedged against her legs, she could not move from her corner.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joingin us,” the Admiral began. “Today we will not discuss bombings or spying missions; we have an extraction to perform. We received intel from several sources (there Rey hid a smile; Luke had done a very good job to avoid divulging that her Force-visions and his friends from the Federalist Party had provided the intel in question) that led to the discovery of a very discreet laboratory built by the First Order in the Unknown Regions. We will raid the place and bring back all the prisoners held there. The place is supposed to be a research station, but I cannot say in what state you will find the captives.”

“Smells like a trap,” someone muttered, and Admiral Ackbar let out a growl that brought a smile on the oldest officers' lips.

“Of course it's a trap,” Ackbar groaned, earning himself a new round of smiles. “And that is precisely why we will leave the fighters here, and use a corvette that one of our associates will generously lend us.”

 _I wonder how much this generosity will cost us_ , Rey mused.

As if he had heard her thoughts, Ackbar went on:

“He will certainly make us pay a hefty sum for this ship, but last time he also insisted that we should bring said ship back _without a scratch_ , and he was serious. We will now pick the team for this intervention.”

* *

Rey had had to plead a little to be allowed on the rescue team. The officers were apparently reluctant to let their only Jedi apprentice participate in a dangerous mission but she wanted to learn. And she also wanted to know who Kylo had been so desperate to protect.

Zaddja was an isolated planet at the edge of the Outer Rim, far from any trading route. The perfect place for a secret base, since no one would want to settle a colony on such a barren planet, surrounded by a ring of asteroids. It made the approach of the planet itself more difficult, but also helped the team hiding the shuttle the Resistance had borrowed from their « friendly » businessman. There were twenty people on board, all armed to the teeth. For once, Poe had left his beloved X-Wing behind to join the infantry, something that happened often due to the ever-present lack of staff in the Resistance.

“Any kind of planetary shield?” the pilot asked, shuffling nervously on his seat.

“Nothing so far,” another soldier answered. “Makes sense. A shield on that planet would attract attention. There's supposedly nothing there.”

“They may have booby-trapped the asteroids,” Finn warned. “That's not very expensive, but it works nicely.”

“Calm down, guys... Try and relax, will you?” Pava groaned. “You're making me nervous.”

Their ship slithered between asteroids and Rey tried very hard not to project her fears. Unlike the rusting wrecks of the star destroyers crashed on Jakku, those obstacles were _moving_ and the pilots had to be extremely careful not to get them all killed.

They landed without a hitch, a one-hour walk away from the weak signal emitted by the underground laboratory.

“I suppose we'll find some defenses as we come closer,” Poe said. “You think that Knight of Ren is still there?” he asked then, turning to Rey.

Luke could not avoid mentionning the presence of Jacin Ren in the facility in his edited report, as it was a huge threat to the whole operation.

“I can't feel him,” she replied. “Either he is very well-hidden or he left the planet some time ago.” _Please, I'd really like him gone, 'cause if even my stupid cousin is somehow afraid of him..._

They progressed carefully on the barren surface. Barely a puff of wind, dust everywhere, no plants, no wildlife... perfectly fitting for the horror Rey remembered from her vision. Mentally speaking, the closer they got to the facility, the more the place reeked of fear and death, so much she felt ready to throw up.

Finn gently patted her shoulder and she smiled at him before pressing on. She had a job to do. Just like on Jakku. Do the job. Get the rations. Complain later, if at all.

The doors leading to the facility were not guarded, but she suspected there were cameras and detectors all around the place.

“Yep,” Finn confirmed. “I can see at least three detectors on that ridge, over the doors. How do we go without them noticing?”

Jess fumbled with her bag, then produced a sort of disk, about one inch thick.

“Magnetic disruptors,” she said. “They will know they're under attack, but since this stuff is cheap and used by nearly every gang of mercenaries in the Galaxy, they won't be able to tell it's the Resistance.”

Poe nodded then askd Rey:

“Can you send the disruptors towards their targets from here?”

She nodded.

“Should be easy.”

She focused on the little device and lifted it from Jessika's hand, levitating it towards the first detector pointed by Finn. The disruptor landed half a meter away from its target. Rey then processed to set the other three devices they had brought. Jess quickly activated them through a remote command. The lights went off on the detectors at once.

“That should do,” Jess muttered. “Still, let's be careful.”

“If they don't send troopers when we reach the door, then it's a trap,” Poe said with a frown.

As a matter of fact, no troopers were sent, but combat droids. Not the pitiful skeleton-like models that Rey had seen on old holos from before the Empire, but brand-new creations, complete with shields. And blasters, of course. A pair for each droid.

“Tell me we have grenades,” Rey groaned. “I'm not sure even a lightsaber could damage that shield.”

Then a sly smile spread her lips as the droids started firing their blasters at them.

At first it looked like nothing happened, then they saw the droids slowly rising from the ground and turning until each of them was in the line of fire of at least two others. Their blasters had been set to go through any kind of personnal shield. Such a shame...

“I love your fireworks,” one of the commandos told Rey with a grin after the four droids had been reduced to a pile of metallic rubble on the ground. “But I bet we'll have plenty of nasty surprises waiting for us inside.”

“Speaking of that, why don't you hack the door, Kennan?” Pava ordered.

“Yeah, yeah... Rey, can you sense anyone behind?”

“Nope,” she replied after a moment. “They’ll probably have more droids inside. Be careful.”

In spite of her warnings, they lost two men while exploring the first level of the facility, before destroying the swarm of combat droids guarding that section. It was strange that, with all the noise they made, no one had started evacuating.

“Can you sense anyone close?” Jess asked.

Rey shook her head.

“No sentients on this level. I get something further down, but it's... distorted. Something's off, but I can't say what exactly.”

They encountered more droids as they went deeper under the ground, but still no alarm. As they finally reached the laboratory, Rey understood why.

“They were reconditionned,” she said, pointing to the men working on the other side of thick glass panels. “They think only of their task here, they exist only to carry on their experiments. They will stay here, no matter what happens outside.”

“You think Snoke or his Knights could have... tampered with their minds?” Dameron whispered.

“Very likely,” she agreed. “There are not many Force-users powerful enough to erase your survival instinct so completely.”

“So they won't interfere if we start freeing their prisoners?” Jess asked.

“Let's hope so.”

In fact, the scientists did not even notice the soldiers' presence except when they prevented them from getting supplies or accessing a computer. Then the commandos would be just pushed out of the way, without a word. This made their job much simpler so they left the others at their own devices and started pulling the still conscious prisoners from the tanks, until they reached a man who looked quite familiar to Rey. She recognized the matted beard and the lank red hair from her vision. So that was the man Kylo Ren wished to protect...

“Oh kriff...” Finn swore after getting a better look at him. “That's the General.”

“Who?” Poe asked, frowning.

“Didn't recognize him at first with the beard and all... but it's General Hux. Or was. Shit.”

Finn looked a bit green - though Rey knew she was not faring much better. The ex-stormtrooper understandably held a grudge against his former officer, but seeing the man reduced to an unconscious bag of bones covered in burns and scabs was a bit too much for him.

“Well...” Poe sighed, “they did a number on him... Call for a medic,” he ordered one of the commandos. “No, belay that. We need all the medics here, we have more than one patient.”

By the time the medical team had reached them, they had opened all the tanks and discovered four corpses, and five people, human or not, who would soon join them, either by poisoning or starvation. They had eleven survivors – a quick scan of the lower levels revealed nothing but other corpses and empty cells.

“What do we do about those guys?” Finn asked, nodding to the scientists. “I can't imagine the First Order being very pleased about what we did here, and they’ll suffer the consequences.”

Poe scratched the dark stubble on his chin.

“We can't take them back to the base,” he said. “I'm afraid we'll have to leave them here. Zaran, spread some paralysing gas when we go. This way, perhaps they won't be executed on sight.”

He doubted the First Order would be so generous, however.

They left the facility without any other struggle. Either they had destroyed all the droids guarding the place, or the robotic soldiers had not been all activated.

After the group embarked and their ship took off, Rey went to sit near Hux's stretcher. She wondered why Ren was so keen on keeping the General safe. Were they friends? Finn had hinted that the two men could not stand each other and often quarelled, but perhaps Starkiller had changed the deal… Or Finn was mistaken. She hoped Hux would answer some of her questions, when he got better.

The man did not stir during the whole trip. Other captives were more responsive, however, and some could even answer the Resistance's questions with some clarity. Rey vaguely listened to them, if only to confirm what Kylo Ren had confessed to her during her Force-dream. It seemed that he had told the truth: Snoke had several research programs going on, all of them focused on artificially controlling the Force so that he could create his perfect Knights from scratch rather than stealing and raising them. The idea was terrifying in itself, and she could understand why Ren had warned them about those experiments: he had no wish to be replaced by some artificially enhanced guinea pig, and then discarded by his master like a useless tool.

While the men went on questionning the former prisoners, Rey remained silent, sitting in a corner. What would the Resistance do with Hux, if he ever woke up? Torture him until he told them everything he knew, before executing him to satisfy the dwindling public opinion that still supported General Organa's presidency? If one could call that a presidency at all, with no election. Just a vote from the leading officers of the Resistance. What remained of the Senate was scattered all around the Core Worlds and beyond and could not object much, though the very few surviving supporters of Organa had already been arrested for treason. That meant no more credits coming from the ruins of the Republic, and soon the Resistance would not be able to pay their soldiers and pilots. Good thing Rey had talents she could use out of a military context.

* *

Their return was not as joyful as they had imagined when they had left the new base on Kirdo, the closest to the First Order's territory they could afford. It rankled to think that once allied worlds such as Bakura and Endor were now under the enemy's control. Right now, though, the Resistance had more pressing matters to deal with, such as keeping their eleven survivors alive and well-fed, and tending to their injuries as soon as possible. Rey was too tired even to join the post-mission diner the staff had fixed so she went to her little room, barely seeing Luke giving her a smile and a thumb-up for her first solo mission.

 _Everything under control, Master_ , she sent, before crashing onto her bed, not even bothering to take her clothes off.

As she drifted into sleep, she heard a voice at the edge of her mind.

 _Thank you, cousin_.

She smiled and slept like a log until the following morning.


	6. Where Is My Mind?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's do a bit of Inception, Star Wars-style...

On the next day, Rey managed to escape from the workshop early and went to the med bay. She had sensed something off with Hux during the trip back to Kirdo, and wanted to make sure she had not been hallucinating. The body lying on the bed was so damaged that she wondered briefly if they were in an autopsy room, but Rey managed to catch a tiny spark of conscience before Doctor Kalonia joined her.

“Ugly, isn't it?” the old medic commented with a shake of her head. “We also had to take an inactive tracker out of him. I suppose they had considered using him as bait, at some point.”

Rey nodded, unable to tear her gaze away from what had been General Hux just a month prior. According to the holos in his – admittedly not very detailed – file, the man had never had much meat on him but he was only skin and bones now and his hips looked like they wanted to break through a too thin layer of parchment. Blueish spots marked his eyelids, the hollow of his elbows, his wrists, his knees, every place where the thin skin let the veins appear.

She should have been glad to see him half-dead, after the complete destruction of the Hosnian system. Some of the Resistance soldiers were not shy in expressing their satisfaction, but she could not find any relief in knowing the man had been tortured for so long. If Snoke could treat his own officers in such a way, what kind of mercy could his enemies expect?

“And I'm not even sure he'll wake up anytime soon, or ever, for that matter,” Kalonia went on. “I must admit I don't understand why. There is no structural damage to the brain, the rest of the nervous system is intact, but none of my stimulations works on him. I'm afraid the next step is more of your resort.”

Rey finally understood what Kalonia was asking of her. The young woman took a step back. Save this man? She had no idea where to begin! She could damage him even more than he was already. And if she did, she suspected Ben would skin her alive (she would let him – such a failure could not go unpunished). She needed her master's help for that task. Quickly excusing herself, she went to the training ground Skywalker had set for her; if they were not working on her katas, the old man would spend some time meditating there.

“So...” Luke muttered after she explained the situation. “There could be blocks in his mind, preventing him from ever waking up... or he could do that to himself, since being awake would mean more suffering... From what I know of the man, he's not a coward. But who knows what a mind can do when submitted to such pressure? Well, let's have a look.”

However, when they reached the med bay, they found Kalonia arguing with Major Ematt, precisely about the unconscious General.

“I know you are eager to interrogate him,” the medic was saying, “but you will have to wait, Major, and I don’t care whether you like it or not. I don't even understand how that boy is still alive.”

 _Because Kylo Ren took a part of his suffering onto himself_ , Rey thought, but knew better than to say it aloud.

“Irregular pulse, lung infection, burns from acids and electrocution, muscular contractions caused by electric shocks...” Kalonia went on. “Not to mention he is just skin and bones and has not received solid food for more than a month. If he does not recover a bit before you start questioning him, he will die of heart failure before you can get anything useful.”

Rey and Luke exchanged a glance: no one had ever said it would be an easy job...

* *

Very far from Kirdo, Kylo Ren allowed himself to relax. Hux was relatively safe – more than before at least, and the Knight could stop checking on him and Rey for a few days. Now, to hide this from Snoke...

* *

Before trying an investigation into Hux's mind, Rey wanted to know her subject better. Luke had given her access to the Resistance's files, but their notes on the General were sparse at best. He had always been a rather private and discreet man before his show on Starkiller, apparently.

 _Father:_ Commander Brendol Hux, she read. Died four years prior, cause of death: personal shuttle malfunction and explosion.

 _Mother:_ Lieutenant-Commander Natia Kryze. Killed during the battle of Jakku.

It was childish, perhaps, but Rey hoped she had not scavenged the woman's ship during her stay on the desert planet. Somehow, it felt… disrepectful, as if she had been graverobbing. _Not ‘as if’. She had_.

She tapped on her pad to enlarge the holos of both parents. Brendol Hux had been in his early fifties when the picture had been taken, his orange hair almost completely turned to grey, his face impassive. Natia Kryze had been almost two decades younger than her partner, and only twenty-nine when she died. They had not been married. Her hair looked golden-red on the holo and she had the same pale blue-green eyes as her son. Rey wondered if her son remembered her; she had absolutely no memories of her own mother.

* *

Luke had inspected Hux's brain and agreed that there were no external blocks in the man's mind. Everything had been created from the inside to try and protect his most personal thoughts. However, the old master hesitated. To operate in another mind, a Force-user had to be welcome and trusted, something that was highly unlikely where he was concerned. That only left Rey to try and wake the General from his coma. She did not feel particularly up to the task, but they had no one else since General Organa had never been trained in the ways of the Force. And Hux would trust her even less than her brother.

“Be calm," Luke advised. “There may be some painful memories in there but do not panic, and leave immediately. Should you remain stuck within his mind, I would have a hard time separating the two of you.”

“Understood.”

“I will monitor both of you during the procedure. There is something… I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but the Force resonates in a certain way around him… Perhaps it’s just the remains of Snoke’s meddlings. Another reason to be careful, anyway.”

A part of herself wanted to remind her that saving the General was not doing anyone a service, that he would die soon anyway. "If half a fruit is rotten, then the whole fruit is rotten", an ancient axiom found in one of her readings in the old Jedi archives proclaimed. _Not when one is starving to death, Master. Not when you're starving to death._

She reached towards Hux's mind. Once again, Rey felt something, as if the consciousness locked in this coma was trying to escape without succeeding completely. She only knew the basics but felt compelled to try. He did not react when she put two fingers against his temple. Rey took a deep breath and dove into the General's defenseless mind. She progressed slowly at first, careful not to damage anything. Short sequences came and then disappeared before her eyes.

_A dark-skinned woman in a grey uniform, stitches on her brow, was kneeling before a young red-haired boy._

_“Bryn,” she said, “your mother...”_

_“I know. It hurts here,” the boy answered, rubbing a spot on his chest, before falling into the woman's waiting arms to cry._

_~_

_“He’s weak-minded and frail. Sometimes I wonder if keeping him alive after his last bout of Findris flu was truly worth it.”_

_~_

_“Why did not you die with your bitch of a mother? Why must I see your… stupid pasty little face every day? You should have been mine!”_

_~_

_A tired man in a lab coat looked up to stare at a younger version of Hux, who had a colonel's stripes on the sleeve of his coat._

_“The girls?” Hux asked._

_“Both of them...”_

_~_

_The General was crouched over an unmoving body on the floor of a shuttle, his hands pressing against the other man's side, blood seeping into the sleeves of his jacket._

_“You'd better not die on me, Ren,” he growled._

_~_

_“Why do you bring me these books?” a curious Kylo was asking. “I did nothing special.”_

_“The intel you provided allowed us to shorten the negotiations considerably, for which I am very grateful. I think you can take a break. History books,” Hux added, putting them on a table. “I know how much you like those.”_

_Ren's smile seemed to lit the whole room._

_~_

_General Hux was kneeling on the floor of an hospital room, holding something in his arms. She could not see what it was since he had his back to her, but she heard a weak sound, like a baby crying. Then it stopped._

_~_

_She had been wandering for what looked like hours before finding the light again. She searched through darkness and finally hit a cold metal wall. She explored the metal. There had to be a crack, a door, just a tiny slit where she could squeeze and get in. Rey finally found what she was looking for, something so narrow she could hardly fit in. She managed, after some efforts to enter a windowless room lit by a white lamp. It was getting colder and colder. She had barely thought about it that she started to shiver. Rey thought she had somehow gone back on Starkiller._

_She startled when she discovered Hux sitting on the ground, his knees against his chest and his forehead resting on his crossed wrists. She walked towards the prostrated man. He lifted his head slowly but did not seem to notice her. Maybe he did not see her? He went on staring at the white light, long enough to blind himself. Technically, Rey remembered, he was blind, since his nerves could not inform his visual cortex properly. But in the spiritual world, however… She stood right in front of him. At first, Hux said nothing. Then he told her in a mechanical voice:_

_“I have already tried to get out, you know. It does not work. There is no exit. I am not strong enough for that.”_

_“I'm afraid you're lacking some skills here,” Rey replied. “But I can provide them.”_

_She saw his pupils narrow as he focused on her. She also noticed he had been crying._

_“I have already seen you once, right?” he said in an almost dreamy voice. “Yes… the little scavenger Ren brought back from Takodana, who cut his face in half. I owe you for that… it changed him… for the best.”_

_She let a friendly smile appear on her face._

_“Do you want to follow me? We're freezing here. By the way, where is 'here'?”_

_He cocked his head, as if he wanted to study her face better._

_“It is just a memory from Arkanis. The room where they locked the cadets for… all kind of reasons. The cold is not real. Everything is happening in my head, isn't it?”_

_“Of course it is in your head, but why would it mean that it is not real? These are your memories. It exists. And seriously, I'm turning to ice right now.”_

_The First Order's propaganda could cohabit with good manners, for he immediately took his thick greatcoat off to wrap it around her shoulders. She noticed that his rank insignia disappeared as soon as the cloth touched her skin._

_“Why did you come here?” the General then asked, torn between suspicion and surprise._

_“The medics healed all your injuries and you should have already woken, but…”_

_“You did not understand my question,” Hux cut tersely. “You belong to the Resistance. Why are you helping me?”_

_“Because you need it, and I could sense you calling out. Don't you remember?”_

_The completely flabbergasted expression that crossed the General's face could have been comical, in other circumstances. He had not expected that._

_“I thought I was hallucinating,” he admitted. “I did not think I could – I thought Jacin Ren was toying with my mind. How could you be there?”_

_“Kylo Ren called for me,” Rey replied bluntly. “As unbelievable as it seems. He brought me there, through the Force. It's an easy feat for him; he's stronger than me. And I found you, always present in his thoughts. The Force creates ties between people; I don't know why it decided to create this one, but who am I to contest its decisions?”_

_A thundering crack interrupted her and she watched, stunned, as the walls twisted and bent inwards. If they stayed there, they would be crushed._

_“Get up !” Rey ordered, reaching to Hux. “Get up or we'll remain stuck here forever. GET UP !”_

_He obeyed though he looked completely lost._

_“It's your mind, get us out of here! Take us somewhere else!”_

_Rey shut her eyes when the metal walls fell towards them, but instead of the cold, sharp steel, she felt only grass under her hands and a warm breeze on her face. Warily, she opened an eye. Trees above her. The sound of running water. The leaves were tinged with yellow. It was the beginning of autumn, wherever they were. The General's hand was still gripping hers and she noticed that his gloves had vanished as well._

_“Well done,” she said after a while. “Where are we?”_

_“Northern continent of Pantolomin, I'd say,” Hux's tired voice answered. “One of the most peaceful places I've ever known.”_

_“Water and plants everywhere… I think I like it. But we should go back, now.”_

_She sat in front of him and, like in the real world, gently touched his forehead._

_“It's time to wake up.”_

* *

If the First Order and the Resistance had something in common, it was the cold, sterile atmosphere of their med bays, Hux decided once he managed to keep his eyes open for more than thirty seconds. A crude white light, the silence... He felt awfully weak and so, so light… How much weight had he lost? And how long had he spent in a coma? He vaguely remembered a conversation with the scavenger… no, Rey, when he had been locked up in his own mind, but after that everything was rather blurry. He was trying to stretch his legs when the medic arrived. The tension locking his shoulders slowly vanished when he did not receive any blow or insult, only a curious look from warm brown eyes and a nod while the elderly woman took some notes on her datapad.

“Hmm... I think you'll be able to begin a bit of physical therapy within the next week,” she assessed. “We need to improve the balance of these electrolytes of yours, however.”

“Where is… ?”

He tried to sit but immediately had to stop, so violent was the wave of dizziness that overtook him. His muscles had no strength so to speak and he could barely coordinate his movements.

“Careful,” the medic advised. “You were unconscious for more than five weeks, all things considered. If you are looking for Miss Rey, she is resting on your left.”

Indeed, the young woman was sleeping in a bed nearby.

“It took her almost two days to bring you back. A bit of rest cannot hurt.”

He managed a nod and watched the woman as she performed another round of tests on his reflexes before taking a blood sample. His throat was itching and he felt as if someone had tightened a corset around his ribs.

“Are there not guards here?” he asked innocently.

“Sick as you are, I doubt they would be very useful, and my assistants can take care of any attempt at breaking out… or in. You are not exactly a popular man, Mr Hux, but the pilots won't object to my decisions,” the medic said firmly. “I served as midwife for most of them, and they don't want me sharing embarrassing stories,” she added with a wink.

“Such as the time you had to slap their naked little butt to make them cry?”

Kalonia snorted and nodded with a smirk. Hux returned the smile, though a bit weakly.

“Let's find you something to eat... You need some meat on those bones before I consider letting you out.”

As soon as she left, Hux dropped the smile and tried to smother a coughing fit in his pillow. He knew she was trying to gain his trust, to make him drop his guard. Well, he would humor the old lady since she was acting so politely, but he would not tell her anything. Not even if his life depended on it. Another cough left him breathless. When he thought things could not get worse…


	7. Questioning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your terrorists are our freedom fighters, and vice-versa...

The Resistance left Hux alone for two days. After that, Doctor Kalonia informed him, her face pinched, that he would be detained in a cell and questionned. Small surprise there. Hux had always suspected that the “no-torture” policy the Resistance claimed to hold was nothing more than clever propaganda for the soft-hearted audience of the New Republic and the senators funding that little band of misfits. He would know soon if he was right, and could only hope his training would be enough. At least he was pretty sure he could rely on the good medic to patch him up when he needed it.

Three guards came to fetch him in the medbay and Hux rolled his eyes. He was alone, unarmed, underfed, still feverish, and they thought he would try and escape? They reached a metal door and one of the guards opened it before pushing Hux inside. The General stumbled and hit the wall, and as he turned, the door slid shut, leaving him locked up and alone. Since he had nothing better to do, he studied his new housing: a square windowless room, with a bunk, a sink, a neon tube over said bunk and a toilet. No chairs, no shelves, not even a table to eat. Looking up, he noticed the air duct was far too small to allow an escape. Only insects and rodents could leave this way. There was a small hatch at the bottom of the door but apart from a plate or perhaps a bowl, nothing could enter nor leave the cell. Sighing, Hux sat on the musty-smelling blanket, waiting for either a meal or another group of guards to appear.

* *

Rey and her little band of friends were having lunch when Major Brance entered the mess hall and went to his colleague Ematt, telling the older man that the prisoner was ready for interrogation.

“Think carefuly before you start, both of you,” Statura warned them as they left the room. “I don't think that offering the man just his life will be enough to make him talk.”

“We need that intel,” Brance stated. “The First Order is still very reactive in Hux’s absence, much more than we expected. They have seized several shipyards all over the Rim and the few Republican ships that remain cannot dock anywhere to repair. Not to mention that they sent recovery teams to junkyard planets, which deprives us from well-needed ressources. We must have all the details Hux knows about operatives, spies, trading agreements, and so on. No matter how we get it.”

“So what?” Finn growled once the Major had left. “If the bad guys do it, it's awful but if we do it, it's fine? What kind of fucked-up reasoning is that?”

“Welcome into the real world,” Jessika Pava muttered from behind her cup of caf. “It's a shame that some of us started to believe our own propaganda.”

“What do they even care?” Snap added, equally disgruntled. “They're going to execute him no matter what, and even if they give him a trial, it'll just be one big joke. I didn't sign for that shit,” he added, pushing his chair back. “If someone's looking for me, I'll be working on my fighter.”

“Same here,” Poe grumbled, getting up and following Snap.

Rey and Finn exchanged a glance.

“I have a very bad feeling about this,” the young man said.

Rey could only nod in agreement.

* *

Hux was left alone in his cell for a whole stantard day, probably to give him some time to consider his non-existant options, then the questionning began. His first visitor was not Princess Organa, as he had expected, but her brother. Hux vaguely remembered the man's presence in the hospital room, something calm, soothing and not the smallest bit threatening, but he knew better than to underestimate the peaceful-looking old man in front of him. They eyed each other for a moment, then Hux extended a hand.

“Please, have a seat.”

He did not know why the older man had waited for his permission to sit on the bed. As if he needed it. Anyway, he liked that little touch of good manners. Luke observed the younger man for a moment then asked:

“What can you tell me about the Knights of Ren? This topic is not as sensitive for you as your ship and strategy, so I assume you will answer that question.”

Surprised, Hux nodded slowly and started to speak in a low voice.

“I know there are seven of them, and only two remain of the original team – I mean, those you knew fifteen years ago, Kylo Ren included. The other is Jacin Ren. As for the five unlucky guys, I'm not sure what killed them. Perhaps they displeased Snoke, or they were slain in battle, or they tried to replace the First Knight. Kylo picked their replacements himself. I suspect they are more loyal to him than to Snoke, but it's pure speculation.”

Luke gestured with his mechanical hand, encouraging him to go on. To his credit, the former General did not stare at the artificial limb nor did he seem disturbed by its lack of syntheskin.

“They work in parallel with the First Order hierarchy. In theory, they do not answer to any officer, myself included. I had a... let's say an agreement with Kylo Ren, but it's not the common rule. They come and go as Snoke demands and will execute anyone the Supreme Leader wants dead. We... I mean the First Order had to negotiate with Snoke to ensure the Knights would not set foot on allied worlds. They make rulers and governors feel a bit...apprehensive.”

The old Jedi nodded with a smirk.

“Can you tell me more about Kylo Ren, if you don't mind?”

“Pardon my language, Master Skywalker, but when he came on the Finalizer three years ago, he quickly became the biggest pain in the ass I had ever met,” Hux answered honestly, prompting a chuckle from Skywalker.

Speaking his mind about the Knight could not hurt, anyway. It could even earn him some bonus points with Skywalker. He just did not have to tell _everything_.

“Yes,” the older man said. “I know Ben can be quite... abrasive, sometimes.”

“You tell me. However, his behaviour changed after Starkiller. I don't know what led to that evolution, but I certainly did not complain, and neither did my crew. He seemed to believe that Snoke, however, was not satisfied. I could not discuss it further, though, since I was put in Jacin Ren's custody.”

“Do you think Snoke can be killed?” Skywalker asked.

The smile on Hux's face had a rather disturbing quality when he replied:

“Anyone can be killed.”

Skywalker scratched his beard, looking pensive. Then he stood and offered a slight bow to Hux.

“Thank you very much for your cooperation, General. You were very helpful.”

“Wait!” Hux called after him. “I've answered your questions, can you answer one of mine? Of all the people that I met here, only you and Dr Kalonia did not pass judgement on me. Why? Is it some Jedi rule about being objective?”

“What you did was indeed a crime of terrifying proportions,” the old knight sighed, “but Kalonia took an oath when she became a medic, not to mention she had to shoot some people to get to her patients on the battlefield. As for me, I once blew up a space station with one million people on board, amongst other things. I would be quite the hypocrite if I spoke against you.”

With that, Skywalker gave him a short bow and left, while Hux tried to process what had just happened.

* *

The Finalizer was stationed in orbit above Kerkoidia, not for an attack but for the celebration of a successful negociation. The green and blue world would provide cereals, fish, iron ore and several alcoholic beverages to the First Order in exchange for the fleet’s protection against pirates and slavers. From the bridge, Kylo Ren could enjoy a magnificent view and did not tire from the sight of rolling white spirals churning in Kerkoidia’s atmosphere. It looked so peaceful from above, even though the huge clouds meant a storm was raging on the surface. A flash of light on metal caught his eye and the Knight turned slightly to cast a quick look at Capt – no, Lieutenant Phasma. She had been demoted following the Starkiller disaster and only Hux’s influence had managed to keep her alive, though it had not prevented a full reconditioning. Kylo felt a kind of perverse satisfaction in knowing the Lieutenant had finally gotten a taste of her own medicine. She had been awfully fond of that method to keep her troopers in line and Kylo would have bet that some of the soldiers celebrated her departure. Their new commander, Captain Lanzar, was just as strict as Phasma, but in a less aggressive manner, and _listened_ to her men before passing judgement. The Knight suspected the troops’ morale would only improve in the near future.

* *

While Hux was rotting in a cell, the discussions regarding his status grew harsher. To which juridiction should they hand the former General's trial? The institutions of the New Republic were crumbling and some objected against a military tribunal that would be judge, jury and executioner. Master Skywalker had been required to explore the man’s thoughts and memories but, to everyone’s surprise, he had refused to do so, replying that his field of expertise regarder the Force and as such, he would take care of the Knights of Ren or fight their master if needed, but nothing more.

“I leave the political games and that senseless war to anyone who wants them,” he had told his sister. “A wise man must know when he is beaten. The only thing we can do now is to try and impress more of our philosophy in the new galactic state that is currently created.”

No one had been pleased by this refusal, of course. Rey had wanted to roll her eyes. They all looked at Skywalker as if he could win the war for them by his sole presence. As if… She had stopped believing in miracles a long time ago.

“Why do you refuse to interfer, Master Luke?” she asked him nonetheless. “Interrogating Hux with your method would be far less painful for him, don't you think?”

“Perhaps, my dear, but the Resistance must come to terms with the fact they are losing battle after battle and the system they wish to reinstate was flawed and failing from the very start. Extracting informations from the General, provided his mental shields are weakened enough, won't change that. They don't have the men, they don't have the money and unlike the Rebellion, they are lacking support in the Rim. The only thing I can do is ensure that Snoke will not live to exploit a First Order's victory for his own twisted benefit.”

“Won't Snoke's death put an end to the First Order?”

Luke shook his head.

“The First Order learnt from the Empire's mistakes, and not only for the design of its ships. Snoke is not, at the end of it, essential to them. He would not be so powerful without their army, but I suspect they could do just fine without him, even though they would have certainly progressed at a slower pace. It's very different from Palpatine. And, I must admt, much more efficient. They use more than raw terror and strict enforcement to gain allies. We will have a hard time fighting that. Let's focus on Snoke... and first of all, on your training. Nonetheless, I would recommend keeping an eye on Hux as well. The Force is acting... peculiar around him.”

* *

Hux almost wished that Skywalker would come back and question him further. He was bored out of his mind, and not only from the lack of conversation. He had nothing to do in there apart from trying to find a way to escape, a hope that dwindled a bit more with each coughing fit that racked his body. He still managed to keep his food down, but barely.

After two more days of solitary ruminations, two officers came into his cell. He remembered them from an argument with Kalonia: Majors Ematt and Brance. What reassured him a little was they carried no equipement with them. Fists and boots could do a lot of damage, of course, but without chemicals or tools, Hux would have a better chance to keep his secrets. Unless it was not an official interrogation, and they would just push him down onto the floor... Ematt yanked him from that unhealthy train of thought:

“Where is Kylo Ren?”

Well, Hux was not expecting that. It probably came straight from Organa, as she would want to know about her son. He answered nonetheless.

“I have no idea. The last time I saw him, he was still on the Finalizer, but Snoke may have sent him on a mission. Or killed him for not being obedient enough. Ask the old man, I'm sure he will tell you.”

“Stop playing tough,” the oldest officer snarled, “it won't save you in the end. We want Kylo Ren arrested and put on trial; his fate will be decided by the Republic's court of Justice for the murder of former General Han Solo, to begin with.”

Hux blinked several times.

“Justice? You want _revenge_ , Major Ematt, and for a man who abandoned your cause almost two decades ago -”

The slap cut him short.

“Watch your mouth,” Ematt warned.

Major Brance shook his head.

“Careful. He's not fit for another beating.”

“Kalonia is far too lenient with that bastard,” Ematt retorted.

Hux watched their interactions with a kind of amused disdain. They were awfully obvious: the nice ISB agent against the bad ISB agent... As if he had not seen it before. And as for Ematt's slaps, the man would have to do worse than that. It was pitiful, particularly when compared to the training Hux had received after he had reached the rank of Major.

“I would add the murder of young Ben Solo and his fellow padawans to the list of his sins,” Ematt went on. “Killing defenseless children for the sake of one madman...”

Hux raised an eyebrow. Then promptly decided to send safety to hell.

“Well, I suppose it's true... from a certain point of view,” he admitted.

Ematt frowned.

“What do you mean?” Brance asked eagerly, thinking he had tricked his prisoner into talking.

“Kylo Ren murdered Ben Solo, if that boy ever existed, on a purely... metaphorical level. Ren is... or was, Ben Solo. They are the same person.”

Hux stopped, coughing again. When he looked at the Major, he saw the man's incredulous expression slowly morph into anger.

“Oh... you really didn't know...”

Brance got up abruptly.

“I think we should call the General.”

Both officers left the room, and Hux remained alone, a small smile appearing on his lips. He was going to enjoy that... He only had to wait for a few minutes before Organa entered the interrogation room, frowning, her lips pressed in a thin line. She itched to slap him, her whole body language was litteraly screaming it. Hux kept smiling, hoping to provoke her further. He wanted an opening, even a tiny one. He felt more than ready for a fight.

“Good afternoon, General. Or is it President, now?” he drawled, trying not to cough. “I suppose that congratulations are in order.”

She did not answer.

“Even tough winning an election when there is no other candidate does not require much effort. And I do not know how useful an empty Senate could be. Either the federalists or the First Order will make your title null and void.”

“Do you think yourself clever for revealing that Kylo Ren is, in fact, my son?” she asked sharply.

“Honest mistake,” he said with a shrug, before another coughing fit forced him to stop. “I... thought they knew. A lie of such... magnitude did not seem in-character for you. But admitting that your son had gone overboard would have cost you too many supporters, I suppose. Better to pretend that he was dead... That way you could... add the ‘grieving mother’ part to your aura... As if... the poor, homeless, orphan princess was not enough... You should stop using that card. It was already old ten years ago.”

He tried to breathe deeper.

“I know hundreds of people, just on my ship, that could explain the concept of being homeless and orphaned better... than you would ever...”

“It does not make you less of a murderer, Mister Hux”, she said coldly. “Your supposed suffering does not excuse your crimes.”

“And who are you to pass judgement?” he said in a slow, calm voice, the cough forgotten for a moment. “Your hands are dripping red just like mine. Your actions, or your inaction depending on the case, caused millions to die all across the Galaxy. You did not say a word when your allies executed or deported entire families, officially because they were collaborating with the Empire, their sentences based on rumors, anonymous tips or personnal revenge. And when twenty-three systems from the Rim brought a petition before the Senate for a structural reform of the Republic that would not leave the outer worlds with mere crumbs while the Core accumulates wealth and power, and in spite of all your promises, you voted in favour of a two-year planetary blocade, _Princess_ , using words such as ‘disorder’ and ‘separatists’. A very dangerous word, this one, that led to the downfall of the previous Republic, if you had forgotten. You used your aura very artfully, I'll grant you that, and your fellow senators followed... save for Chandrila, right? The First Order should have sent you a huge bouquet of the rarest flowers for that, since the blocade litteraly pushed those systems into our arms, because you so desperately wanted to recreate Bail Organa’s fairy tale of a Republic just as it had been. Just with the orphanages, we gained more than two hundred and eighty thousands stormtroopers in one year. And the funny part? Your pet FN-2187 was one of them... You blame every misfortune that befell you on Darth Vader but tell me: how much of Vader is there in _you_?”

He was completely out of breath by the end, but when he heard gasps and shouts of outrage from the hidden speakers, a satisfied smirk appeared on his face.

“Oh..." he said with false discomfort. "We were live ?”

She slapped him. A bruise would appear very soon, that could not be helped, but for once he did not care. He leant back on his chair casually.

“I know you will be present for my trial. You just want to make sure that the verdict will meet your expectations: the firing squad or an injection. That won't help your case the next time you see Kylo Ren but well... that won't be my business anymore.”

“I intend to get my son back, Mister Hux – and I will make sure none of your pernicious influence remains in him. You have no idea about what a mother could do for her child. But how could you, bastard as you are?”

A part of him wanted to stuck his tongue out at her, but he had better control than that. He just sniffed haughtily - as much as one could while being sick as a dog.

“Pff… that stopped being an insult a long time… ago. Does anyone inquire about... your parents’ marital status when you were conceived?”

He wanted her to leave; she was boring, bleating about her supposedly noble feelings again and again. Somehow, he had being expectint something else. Something better. And when Hux got bored, he tended to develop a rather malicious streak. So in order to get rid of Organa, he pictured the most compromising, sinful situation he could imagine, the most revolting scenario (for her) involving her son and himself. What about Ren naked, blindfolded and tied up on his bed, begging for more as Hux prepared him?

Judging by the huge slap he received less than thirty seconds later, perfect choice. He tasted blood on his tongue as Organa left the room, slamming the door behind her, but he had never laughed so much for a long time. Kalonia and one of her assistants came to pick him perhaps one hour later and he heard the old medic clucking her tongue in annoyance as she checked his scans.

On the other side of the base, General Organa was in conference with Brance and Ematt. Since their first attempts had not weakened Hux significantly, and time was running short for the Resistance, they would have to reconsider their methods.

“Break him,” the General ordered. “Do whatever it takes, but we _will_ have these informations.”

Shortly after that, two guards barged into the medbay to drag Hux back for interrogation. Ematt and Brance were both absent from the room where the soldiers left him. Three people were waiting for Hux, however, and pulled him from the floor as soon as the guards dropped him to push him onto a chair where he was promptly cuffed. With his arms forced behind his back, he made an easy target...

* *

They had left perhaps hours before but no one had come to pick him up and drag him back to his cell. He remained on the chair, head down, blood dripping on his trousers, thinking about payback as a way to forget the pain from his wounds. He would not kill the Princess. Executing an old woman, no matter the charges against her, never gave anyone a boost in popularity. He would let her live and watch as the work of her life was reduced to dust. Her dedication was certainly admirable, but perseverance in a lost cause was not something Hux considered worth praising.


	8. Fighting on Two Fronts

Adama knew something was wrong the minute Kylo Ren entered her quarters. The knight was not angry, per se, but he projected exasperation so strongly that even the technicians in the lower levels of the ship had to feel it.

“What happened?” the Admiral asked, sitting very stiffly behind her desk – old injuries always had a way to make themselves known at the most inopportune moment.

“Snoke changed his mind about my training,” the younger man said as casually as he could, though his fists were clenched tightly. “He told me that some ‘unforeseen circumstances’ forced him to alter his schedule, and finish someone else's training before mine.”

Adama arched an eyebrow. That sounded rather far-fetched.

“And what do _you_ think?”

“It's _puddu_ and Snoke believes I can't see it. He must have sensed that I have not evolved as he wished, and he is now training my replacement. Jacin Ren, most likely. This one would make me look tame,” Kylo added with a smirk.

Adama snorted and Ren chuckled in return, for once completely at ease. To think that barely a month prior he would have reacted to such news by destroying yet another room or half a dozen consoles... Hux had had a more soothing influence than the Force-user had imagined.

“How is the arm?” Adama inquired after a short silence.

“Much better,” Kylo admitted. “These new neuro-implants are really fine, much more refined that the previous ones. The feedback is a bit... off, but I'll grow used to it quickly, I think. It's better than losing the whole thing. That's one family tradition I could do without.”

The Admiral smiled. The Skywalkers had a tendency to lose arms, hands and other parts, indeed. Still, she was surprised that Kylo did not feel like arguing about his "disgrace". In truth, Snoke's decision suited him perfectly. He had not wish to leave the Finalizer and his crew so soon, not when he was at last getting in the officers' good graces and was building a tentative friendship, or at least an understanding, with Hux's successor. That in itself was more pleasing than he had imagined at first. Nonetheless, he missed the red-haired officer. Now that he had talked to the man out of purely professional circumstances, the Knight had to admit he liked Hux's vast knowledge in history, almost as huge as his own, and astrophysics. Some of it was so complicated that Ren, though by no way a lackwit, could not get his head around it, but theirs evening discussions had always left him at ease, more peaceful than any meditation he tried on Snoke's orders.

“Ready to go back on the bridge?” he asked.

Adama grabbed her coat, slipped it over her shoulders and quickly left her rooms, Ren on her heels, so obviously happy to be done with paperwork for the time being that Kylo did not even need the Force to sense it. Their entrance was of course not missed and a round of salutations greeted them. Behind his console, Mitaka shuddered and Adama could not repress a smile. The lieutenant seemed just as terrified by the "calm" version of Ren as he had been of the temperamental one. Kylo frowned slightly. If he wanted his plan to work, he would have to make peace with the Lieutenant.

* *

Hux had finally been brought back to his cell. Lying on the cot, he wished his mother was there. Silly sentimentalism... he was going to die soon and perhaps he would see her again. And he would ask: _Who were your mother, your father? Who were those grandparents you never mentioned, keeping silent out of fear?_ But he would never hold an historical debate with Kylo Ren again, never listen to his ramblings about the Force... never feel so _needed again_. Of course, the First Order needed him, but they were relying on his intellect and vast knowledge both in strategy and physics. Ren acted on a more primal level, wishing for someone who could listen to him from time to time without demanding his complete allegiance in exchange or trying to change him according to their whims. It had not been as difficult as Hux had imagined. Perhaps he could consider the Knight as a friend. Or all of this was just a fever-induced fantasy. However, he was conscious enough to feel a warm hand on his cheek, fingers smoothing his hair, then for barely a second, lips against his forehead, though he remained alone in the cell. Perhaps he had died already and Natia was finally greeting him on the other side.

 _“I'm sorry I can't do more...”_ a disembodied voice said, seemingly directly into Hux's head. He had heard it already, right? He knew that voice.

Hux tried to remember in spite of the hammer pounding at the back of his skull.

“R... Ren?” he called, the word sending needles down his throat.

_“Shh... Speak in your mind, so no one can listen. I'd give an arm to be able to heal you, but I need to touch my patient to be effective...”_

Hux smiled even though it pulled painfully at his split lip.

_“Keep your arm. It's a wonder you can contact me at all... At least this way... I won't be interrupted by a cough every three words.”_

_“Do you know where you are?”_ Kylo asked. _“The planet, I mean.”_

Hux raked his brain for the name, replaying every conversation he could recall - which in his state was not much. The Resistance had left D'Qar... someone had mentioned they were close to the First Order's borders. Endor... No, not Endor, it was kept under watch by some of General Kale's troops in case some desperate enemies would try and hide there. But close. What was that name? His nails dug into his palms as he tried to remember, again and again.

_**“STOP.”** _

Hux froze. That was the first time Ren had ever used the Force to make the General obey, and it left him trembling on his cot.

_“You're only hurting yourself. Calm down. I know which sector to investigate, now. You did very well. You can sleep.”_

Either Hux was too exhausted or the suggestion was truly effective: he closed his eyes and was sound asleep minutes later.

* *

On the Finalizer, Kylo Ren was doing his best to hide his growing concern. He had reported his conversation with Hux to Adama, passing it as an ‘intuition’ and the Admiral was busy checking it before sending troops anywhere. He wished she could hurry up a bit. Hux was terribly sick; dying perhaps… but Ren could not mention his presence on the Resistance’s base, or he would have to explain how the enemy had managed to find the facility on Zaddjar… Being tried for high treason was not exactly on his to-do list. He waited for five days before the Admiral finally gave him the news he wanted to hear. “I can confirm your intuitions, Master Ren,” Adama said with an approving smile.

“Our spy in the Resistance finally felt it was safe enough again to contact us, and told us they have settled on Kirdo. Quite close to Endor indeed. Time to pay them a visit.”

“Good luck, Admiral. Who are you sending?”

“The _Watcher_ and the _Manticore_ , that should be enough given the Resistance is not expecting us. Let’s hope we can catch some of them.”

* *

It happened during the night. The radar operators barely had the time to warn the rest of the base before the attack started. The First Order had not sent a whole squadron, just what was needed for a very localized bombing on the planet, but it was enough to wreck havock on the surface. The Resistance had not expected such a boomerang to come back; the enemy had remained quiet for weeks, but no one had imagined that they were merely gathering their forces and replacing Hux with someone apparently just as combative. An alarm sounded in the middle of the night, pulling people out of their beds and running in the corridors.

“Evacuation?” Rey asked, still half-asleep, when she found Poe and Finn at her door with their bags already slung on their shoulder.

“Yeah!” the pilot answered. “Unwanted visitors.”

“The First Order?”

“Looks like it! Come on!”

She hastily shoved her clothes and tools in her own bag. Anakin’s lightsaber had been given back to Finn since it was far too thick for Rey’s fingers, and she could certainly not bring her potted cactus with her. The young woman quickly pulled her boots on and joined the men in the corridor.

“Let’s go!” Poe ordered.

“We need to get Hux!” Rey remembered suddenly. “If there's a Knight of Ren in that lot, they'll just kill him and we'll never get another opportunity like this! And General Organa’s going to shoot us on sight if we can’t bring him to his trial!”

“Fine, go,” Poe told her, apparently convinced by her reasons. “But hurry up. If he doesn't cooperate, don't bother.”

She ran to Hux’s cell, bumping into some soldiers on the way. When she opened the door, the man was lying on his side, trying to find his breath after yet another coughing fit.

“Get up, I’m taking you out of there,” Rey told him, holding her hand out.

He looked at her with wide eyes.

“Why would you do that?”

“Don't be silly,” Rey scoffed. “We're under attack from the First Order. They won't tell their bombs to avoid your head! And even if there's no Knight of Ren with them, you're not safe.”

He dragged himself up and took her hand.

“Fine. I hope you know... what you're doing.”

“Same here. Let's go, I'll help you.”

He was certainly not fit for running but he managed to keep pace with Rey for a while. Then he had to lean onto her in order to keep walking.

“Just a bit further,” she urged him. “We must find the _Falcon_ , and -”

“No ! This ship... is known and wanted all across the galaxy. If we go with your friends, we'll be... arrested in no time.”

She hesitated.

“Do you really want to be brought before Snoke?” he added.

That prompted her to run even faster. When they reached the runway, she turned sharply on her left towards a small shuttle that had been "borrowed" somewhere in the Outer Rim several weeks prior by a commando.

“You're sure it has an functioning hyperdrive?” Hux managed to ask over the racket of the explosions.

“We'll find out soon enough,” Rey replied, punching the ramp open.

Hux followed her inside and dropped in the copilot seat with relief. That short burst of effort had left him breathless and unable to move even a finger. He vaguely heard the shuttle taking off, then Rey was roughly shaking him. “

Can you pilot this ship?”

He blinked, as if waking up, and nodded.

“Yes, the commands are... rather standard. I'll take the... radar and the calculations, if you don't mind.”

“It's fine. Exiting atmosphere, Rey announced. Aaand... we have visitors. Star Destroyer right ahead. Yours?”

He leaned forward and shook his head.

“No. The _Watcher_ , I'd say. Smaller, but... efficient. At least it's not an Interdictor. Wait! There’s… another, here.”

He pointed to a second triangular shape, almost invisible from their location.

“Kriff! How are we going to avoid this one?”

Hux considered the scene before them.

“They are far too busy… with the larger transports”, he said. “They won’t bother with such a small ship… I’ll enter the coordinates of a safe place. Then we disappear.”

Rey let him set the flight parameters before getting the green light for jumping into hyperspace, not a second too soon, as the Watcher had sent several TIE fighters in their direction. When the stars turned into blurry white lines, she allowed herself a moment of relief.

* *

The report Adama received from Kirdo was very satisfying. Her troops had destroyed several fighters and aircrafts, ammunitions and supplies, and even captured two enemy soldiers. She would let Ren deal with them later. Less satisfying was the message Supreme Leader Snoke had sent to his commanders, claiming that a small Resistance commando had attacked the base on Zaddja, killing the former General Hux in the process. The Admiral honestly did not know what to do with it. Part of her wished to mourn her friend, the other felt something was off. After a moment of reflection, she decided to call a meeting with some trusted officers, such as Ren, Unamo, Mitaka and the like, and a hololink with General Kale. Said General was even older than Adama, his hair gone entirely grey, and Hux considered him as a friend and mentor of sort, so Kylo would respect his judgement. Kale seemed rather suspicious about Hux’s supposed demise.

“Do you think the message is genuine?” he asked, his eyes narrowed.

“Perhaps,” Ren muttered. “It should be investigated.”

Adama raised an eyebrow.

“You do not seem quite convinced, Lord Ren. Do you have other news about this event, or... does it have to do with the Force?”

He allowed an indulgent smile before answering.

“Indeed, admiral. To put it simply, whenever someone experiences very strong emotions, or dies, it creates ripples in the Force, like a pebble in a pond if you wish. Force-sensitives can sense those disturbances and I am positive that I caught absolutely nothing at the General's official time of death.”

He would not admit that he could still feel Hux's presence, even if a bit dimmed, alive and marginally better than before. That would lead to a lot of embarrassing questions.

“Was he taken captive?” Kale asked, frowning.

“Hard to say,” Kylo replied. “I cannot focus on someone from the other side of the galaxy. There are too many sentient creatures to allow such precision.”

Adama nodded.

“Well, that's good to know,” she said. “Another job for our spy network, then. Any idea about who could have taken him?”

“The Resistance,” Mitaka claimed almost at once. “If not them, mercenaries they paid for it. General Hux would be much more useful to them alive than dead. And they used the attack on the base to cover their tracks. That’s what Supreme Leader Snoke told you, Admiral, isn’t it?”

“Well...”

Ren shook his head.

“Doubtful. Unless someone in this room is a spy for them, they had not way to know that General Hux was going to Zaddja. They should not even know of that place. I suspect this is something that came from inside the First Order. From the top levels, more precisely.”

“Snoke?” Adama asked almost before Ren had finished his own sentence.

The Knight hid a smirk. This was working almost too well… unless the Admiral had participated in Hux's schemes against the Supreme Leader and was merely replacing him on that regard as well. Very likely, he thought. He saw several officers turn pale, while others looked completely unsurprised. The relations between Snoke and the army were growing increasingly tense, Kylo knew, and if they suspected he had anything to do with the General's disappearance, there would be blood. Blood that Kylo himself would be more than happy to spill and serve on a platter. When he had first met Hux, he would have loved nothing more than chocking the officer to death but after a fashion he had developed a form of respect for Hux's intelligence – and the amount of work the man was able to shoulder. Now he understood why the crew and officers of the Finalizer as well as others ships were so loyal to Hux. Kylo himself felt ready to go to Sith hell and back if the General asked him to. And even if he did not.


	9. Aftershocks

On the shuttle Rey and Hux had ‘borrowed’ from the Resistance, the situation was not evolving as the young woman had first assumed, quite the opposite, in fact.

“Where are we going now? We don't have that many supplies on board. We'll have to stop somewhere,” Rey stated.

“I know a place where... the First Order won't come looking for us. It's in the territory still controlled by the Imperial Remnant. I have some... acquaintances on those worlds who could hide us for a while. You'll be... safe there. Force-users are not... the most popular of people in that sector, granted, but as long as you act like a civilized woman, everything should be all right.”

Hux stopped abruptly, trying to regain his breath and failing. Rey wished she had asked Master Luke to teach her healing rather than moving rocks… She did not realy think before reaching and tucking some strands of red hair behind Hux’s ears. He smiled at that. They were safe enough for now and Rey decide to lighten the mood a bit.

“General Organa seemed convinced that you were fucking her son. Even manipulated him in doing so,” she mused, a huge grin on her face. “Did you?”

Startled, he coughed several times before he could answer.

“No... never tried. I just imagined the most... shocking thing that crossed my mind and thought... about it... as loudly as pos-possible. Worked like a charm.”

Rey giggled at that, snorting behind her sleeve.

“Would you... erm... do it?” she asked innocently.

“ 'm willing if he is... Sorry, I'm so tired...”

“Then sleep. We're on autopilot anyway. It can't hurt. Perhaps I should take a nap as well.”

* *

The Falcon had miraculously escaped the Star Destroyers sent by the First Order, though not all the Resistance ships had been so lucky. None of them had been destroyed, as far as Leia could tell, but rather caught by tractor beams and either pulled in the destroyers’ hangars for the smaller ones or boarded by stromtroopers. They wanted prisoners for interrogation and probably the databanks and supplies on each transport as well. She only had Finn and Chewbacca with her. R2 had followed Luke as usual and she suspected her brother had used one of the fighters to leave Kirdo. C3P0 had been with her assistants... or so she hoped, and Poe Dameron had jumped into hyperspace after shooting three TIE down, destination unknown. It looked more like Hoth than she cared to admit... except Han was not there. Would not be there anymore.

* *

Hux had been feeling a little bit better, mostly thanks to the cans of soup Rey had found in the storage unit and warmed over a little portable stove, so they spent some time chatting idly about the places they had seen (Hux had a clear advantage there) or their childhood (and his was just as bleak as Rey’s, in another setting). At least her parents had been married and should she join her family on Naboo, there would be no stigma attached to her birth.

“Then my mother died during the Battle of Jakku and everything went downhill from there,” Hux was telling her. “The Empire was kicked out of Arkanis and we… I mean all the cadets, the instructors and their relatives... spent some rather miserable years hopping from one planet to another on old ships that could not properly… house all of us.”

“How was she?” Rey asked. “Your mother, I mean.”

“Why do you wish to know?” he whispered, his voice getting hoarse again.

“I can't remember mine. I saw her face on holos... but I don't know the sound of her voice, nor the way she walked nor if she sang me lullabies... I know she was a diplomat, though I have no recording of her speeches.”

He gave her a tired smile.

“I understand... I did not see my mother in person very often, you know. But she made sure to send me a message at least once a week, and whenever she went planetside, she would pick some trinkets for me and bring them home. I had to hide them under the mattress so that my father would not take them away. He thought they would make me weak. They made me sneaky instead.”

Rey smiled in return.

“Trinkets? she inquired.

He nodded, lifting his head with some difficulty.

“Wooden carvings, shells, rock samples... I have a little collection back home. The girls play with it now...”

Rey frowned at the mention of the ‘girls’, as the memories she had glimpsed in his mind had seemed to imply that those children were dead. But before she could question him about it, he closed his eyes and was fast asleep. She took the opportunity to check the Force flow around him and, as Master Luke had noticed, it felt different from a ‘normal’ sentient. Not quite Force-sensitive, but close. Rey shuddered; if the experiments led on Zaddja had worked...

* *

Asking Lando for help with a partially disabled Falcon felt like History repeating, except that there was thankfully no Vader waiting for them on Ithor. To Leia's relief, the First Order had not invited themselves there either. The little groupe did not receive a warm welcome, however. Lando's face was grim and he did not seem particularly pleased to see them.

“I hope you are not here to ruin my business again,” he said in way of greetings.

“The hyperdrive worked just fine,” Leia retorted. “So I don't think any bounty hunter followed us to Ithor. Did you receive any call from Luke?”

Calrissian shook his head.

“Either he went back to his previous hideout, or he found another one, but not a single contact since the attack. Nothing from Miss Rey nor Commander Dameron either. But these two are smart kids,” he added more kindly. “They will take care of themselves. Please follow me. We have many things to discuss, I think.”

Finn was already familiar with the setting but did not tell about it. General Organa looked suspicious enough without him mentioning he already knew the former General Calrissian. Lando led them in a different room, Finn noticed, with a view on the streets rather than the garden. Caf and tea were served almost immediately, much to the young man's gratitude.

“Now,” Leia said, “can you tell me what worries you so much?”

“There were several attacks on trading convoys in sectors close to your former base. Food, medical supplies and clothes were stolen, as well as some of the smaller ships. The survivors are adamant that their assailants were members of the Resistance,” Lando replied, cradling a cup of steaming tea between his hands.

“We do not use those methods and you know it,” the General retorted sharply.

“Perhaps you don’t, personally, but some of your subordinates went that way and attacked civilian transports just like any pirate gang this side of the galaxy, so they could gather the supplies you cannot buy anymore. Do you mean you cannot control them anymore ?”

“I do not lead my men by keeping them on a tight leash, Master Calrissian.”

“If you begin to believe in you own propaganda,” Lando retorted, “you’re going to be in trouble. Don’t put your head in the sand, Leia. It’s the best way to end up in a black hole. Your enemies are going to exploit this faux-pas mercilessly and the Resistance won’t win any popularity contest this way. How do you think the First Order could gather so many men and credits so easily, so quickly? Certainly the resources they exploit in the Unknown Regions can explain a part of it. Then, the first decade of your Republic generated so many complainers that the Order only had to ask to recruit. And I am not talking about the governors who lost their privileges in the fight, but rather of ordinary citizens whose firm was confiscated because they ‘cooperated’ with the Imperial army – as if they had any say in that – or the worlds put under blockade because they refused to sell their resources to a single client, and here I mean the State.”

He pulled on a string of blue beads woven into a thin braid behind his left ear.

“I heard that you had been nominated as Chancellor, at least until the end of this war,” Lando went on. “So I beg of you: put an end to piracy. Negotiate. You cannot win a frontal war against the First Order and if you use guerrilla tactics, civilian casualties are to be expected.”

“There will be no negotiation,” Leia said curtly. “I have nothing to discuss with such monsters. They must be destroyed, with no way of ever rebuilding even a shuttle, this time.”

Finn suddenly felt very cold. The First Order was not only a fleet and an army. The officers and some former troopers, those who had left the service for a technical or civilian job, had families, partners and children. Would they be ‘destroyed’ as well? Lando was obviously thinking the same, as his frown grew deeper. Then, the administrator shook his head, sending his beads clicking against each other.

“We won't support you again,” he said resolutely

. He rose from his seat, his hands clasped on the silver buckle of his belt, and bowed.

“It is time to accept that you have failed. We won't risk our people's safety again nor will we spend another credit on a lost cause.”

This said, he spun on his heels and quickly left the room.

“Why am I not even surprised?” the General muttered, setting her cup of caf on the table with a loud clack.

“He must take care of his people,” Finn offered.

“And you think I don't?” Organa replied angrily.

The young man thought it safer not to voice his opinion again. More than anything else, he wanted Poe to be there. The pilot would know what to do, whereas Finn felt completely lost. They finished their caf and Organa promptly walked back to the Falcon, which was still being checked by technicians when she arrived on the tarmac. Finn was not in a hurry to join her and as he strolled at a slower pace, he noticed Calrissian observing the old ship with a sort of longing.

“She used to be mine, a long time ago,” Lando said with a hint of sadness. “Lost her during a sabbac game. Sometimes I wish I could have kept her.”

He sighed deeply, then turned towards Finn.

“You'd better treat that ship well, young man, else you and I are going to have a little chat.”

Finn chuckled.

“As if Chewie would let me anywhere near the controls...”

The administrator smiled with a touch of compassion.

“You are still young and with firm beliefs in what is wrong and right. You will learn, I'm afraid, that nothing is so simple in this world. Changes are coming. Think about what you are going to do, and think _fast_.”

* *

Kylo Ren usually made himself scarce when he was not planetside for an operation, so Admiral Adama was rather surprised to see him in her office with a request. The man rarely asked for anything, these days.

“What can I do for you, Lord Ren?” Adama inquired.

“I would like to borrow one of the shuttles, if it does not impair your schedule,” he said quite formally. “I have a task to complete and it would not do to send he Finalizer off course when I can do it on my own.”

Adama considered that for a moment then a smile slowly grew on her stern face.

“Brynden would have loved that,” she muttered, then added aloud: “What would that errand be, if I may ask?”

“I need to fetch a new kyber crystal for a lightsaber, since the last one was destroyed. Illum is not the only place to find them but it is not occupied by Republican nor Resistance forces. It should be safe enough.”

“Request granted,” Adama said. “When will you be back?”

“Within two weeks,” the young man answered, “provided everything goes according to plan.”

The admiral nodded, her gaze returning to her console.

“I wish you a safe journey, Lord Ren. And you will let me have a look at your new saber when it is ready.”

He bowed.

“Of course, Admiral.”

Ren left, satisfied. As he went back to his quarters to pick a bag and warm clothes, he let his mind wander. Despite Adama's courtesy, he could not help but miss Hux again. The General's last three weeks on the Finalizer had been... so different from their usual interactions. He had not expected to find a kinder side to Hux; perhaps the man had been unknowingly pulling a FN-2187 and broken a part of his own conditioning. Wouldn't that be ironic...

Well, it was not as if Kylo himself had any room to speak. Snoke was as opposed as any Jedi to attachments, claiming they would weaken his apprentice's resolve and distract him too much from his goals... it had only made Kylo want to steal Hux's greatcoat even more than before. He had done so, of course, and every night he draped it over his blanket both to stay warm and keep his nose filled with the other man's scent. Nothing strong: a faint whisp of aftershave, soap, the damned gel Hux used to tame his hair... Not much but comforting enough. And the coat was _warm_. He understood why Hux was so fond of that thing: it made for a very comfortable blanket. He would loathe parting from it, but if it meant he could have the coat’s owner in bed with him instead, well…

The thought made him chuckle. First, he would have to tell Hux of his feelings and in spite of the near-friendship they had started, he had no idea how the other man would react.

* *

The hyperdrive had stopped after two days of travel. Rey was currently deep in the shuttle’s maintenance pit, trying to locate the origin of the problem. Hux was sitting on the ground, giving her the tools she required – he knew them a bit better than Finn, she noticed. Hadn’t he been trained as en engineer, at some point? She could not remember if she had read it in his file. As she finally found the leak that had led to overheating in the hyperdrive system, Rey heard him spit something, then a weak curse. She climbed out of the pit and knelt beside him. There were scarlet drops on his hand and on the floor grates as well. So he had started coughing up blood... and Rey had nothing to treat the infection. She could only lift him up – he was so light she could do it without breaking a sweat – and dragged him towards the only bunk so he would rest a bit.

The hyperdrive died on them again less than a day after the repairs and this time, no amount of work, cursing, cajoling nor anything else, not even the Force, could make it start. They were stranded in the middle of nowhere. Rey wanted to scream and kick the metal walls of the shuttle, but the thought of injuring herself with no help coming to them and Hux almost totally incapacited stopped her. So she did her best to make him comfortable and listened to his ramblings. Almost delirious with fever, he told her everything in between coughs and pained rattles. How he had wanted to gloat, back on Starkiller, to mock Ren's defeat at the hands of an untrained girl... but the sight of the other man lying on the snow with a bleeding hole the size of his fist in his side had been anything but amusing, even in a dark way. And then he had read Doctor Zern's report. The dysfunctions in Kylo's brain, as if someone had been co-piloting the man for years, damaging memories, logical connections and perception on their path... Hux was not a good man, not even a kind one save for a few friends but, he supposed, even so-called evil could have standards. In a moment of lucidity, Hux asked for a datapad and a stylus. Rey fetched the pad she had used to run the diagnostics on the hyperdrive and held it to him. He quickly scribbled a com number on it and a short message before handing it back to Rey.

“Send… They will understand...”

Then he completely lost consciousness.

* *

Hux was growing weaker with each passing hour. The former General was still breathing, small, shallow intakes of air, but Rey was afraid it would stop any minute now. Still, she could not do anything more, since she only had basic supplies in her emergency kit. Her eyelids were closing more and more often and her limbs felt like lead. With a groan, she picked the spare blanket she had found in a closet, spred it on the floor and went for a little nap. She woke up much later than she intended, her head feeling as if it was filled with cotton. Groggily, she checked on Hux. Still alive, but cold under her fingers. Then she noticed… A blue light was blinking on the comm console. Rey dragged herself to the pilot's seat and flicked the integrated comlink open.

“ ... can your hear us? We received your distress call,” a voice was saying, probably not for the first time.

“Hey... Thanks for coming,” Rey managed to say. “We really need help here.”

“This is Star Destroyer Chimaera. What is your status?”

“The hyperdrive has been dead for almost two days,” Rey answered. “The ventilation system is out and my copilot is sick. He caught something before we left our base and it's only gotten worse.”

There was a moment of silence on the other side, the speaker probably checking something with another crew member.

“Understood. Power down all your systems. We will pull your shuttle onboard with the tractor beams.”

“Systems out,” Rey announced minutes later.

“Engaging the tractor beam.”

Rey slowly relaxed on her seat. This was an imperial ship, she should have prepared a backup plan, anything… but she was far too tired to care. She wanted to rest, she wanted Hux to be fine, and had no energy left to run, anyway. After the shuttle had docked into a vast hangar, she lowered the ramp and slowly walked down towards a row of stormtroopers. She smiled weakly at the men in white armor.

“Would have never guessed I'd say it one day, but guys, I'm really happy to see you.” They managed to catch her before she fell face first on the ground.


	10. Recovery

Kylo Ren came back from Illum with the kyber crystal he needed and the impression he would never be warm again. The planet was an iceball, that he had known, but he had not expected it to be _that_ cold, even during daytime. The winds howling across the surface made the temperatures drop dramatically. Well, he had his crystal now, a thing half the length of his thumb with a reddish brown colour. No need to dwell on unpleasant memories of sharp icicles and dark caves, he had a lot of work ahead when he returned to the _Finalizer_. The crew barely reacted to his return, which pleased him. They were certainly not trusting him fully, but they did not fear him as before. Once he had docked his shuttle in one of the hangars and dropped his traveling bag in his quarters, he went to Admiral Adama’s office as promised.

“Welcome back, Lord Ren. I trust that your journey went as you wished?” she greeted him.

“Indeed, Admiral. Everything went just fine. I'd like to use one of the ship's workshops,” he announced. “I may remain locked in there for some days...”

Adama nodded.

“Try not to turn the _Finalizer_ into a mini-supernova and we're good.”

He smirked.

“I won't,” he swore. “I still have a lot of things to do.”

“Fine. But you will show me that new weapon of yours when you're done,” the Admiral added with an almost childish grin. “Lightsabers have grown so rare, these days…”

* *

Rey woke in the medbay with an IV in her left arm and a monitor beeping by her side. She was not cuffed to the bed, which she considered a very positive sign. Waking tied up to metal bars was not something she wanted to happen too often, whoever was on the other side of the glass panel she glimpsed on her right. Her return from dreamland had certainly triggered a signal of some sort, for she heard a door slide open and a medic entered her room. An Adarian, if she was not mistaken.

“Good afternoon, Miss,” he greeted. “How are you feeling?”

Rey managed a nod and a smile.

“Still tired,” she admitted. “A bit hungry. But much better than when I arrived.”

“Good, good… “Do you know what day we are?”

“How long did I sleep?” she replied immediately.

The medic gave her a warm smile.

“Excellent answer! I see no reason to keep you here, but should you notice anything wrong, please come back at once. Regarding your friend… He should be awake and out of the bacta tank within the next two days. You did a good job with what you had under hand.”

Rey was positively beaming.

* *

She visited Hux as soon as he was awake.

“May I?” she inquired, standing on the threshold of his room.

He looked much better, still far too thin but with a bit of colour on his gaunt cheeks and a smile on his lips. Someone had also taken some time to cut most of his beard and he seemed much younger without it.

“Please take a seat," he said, pointing to a chair near his bed.

“The medic said you would recover completely," she prompted after a moment of silence.

“Well, I do feel a bit better,” he conceded. “Or at least, I don’t feel like I’m going to die any minute. Which is an improvement, certainly. I owe you, now,” he added in a more serious tone.

She was a bit embarrassed. She had never wanted to make him feel obligated towards her and she had honestly no idea about what she could ask or do in return. She did not know what was going to happen in the following days, she could not plan for the next five years or so and require something accordingly!

Hux had probably noticed her growing distress, as he tried to distract her from such unpleasant thinking but after a while, he grew too tired to speak and she had to let him rest. That conversation led to lengthy brainstorming on Rey’s part, until she wanted to pull her hair in exasperation. Then she fell back into what was usual behaviour for her. She was determined to earn her stay and went to the hangars in search of some work to do, which probably earned her more respect from the technicians than any of her Force-related abilities. None of the officers on the _Chimaera_ seemed to mind, anyway.

* *

Locked up in the workshop, Kylo Ren was polishing the handle of his future lightsaber with a care not usually associated with him. Precision was needed since he did not want the piece to become _too_ smooth – it would slip too easily between his fingers, even with the gloves. Also, too much polishing could weaken the metal. _Careful, Ren._

He had been at it for three days now, only pausing to take a glass of water, and he was still far from done. This would be his masterpiece (he hoped). Far more stable than his previous weapon, more precise, more elegant… and less likely to blow up in his hand, as well. And when he was done with his task, he would try and find Rey again, to make sure she had managed to reach a safe sector with Hux. The last time he had reached for them, in his way to Illum, he had gotten very confusing impressions, exhaustion and fear, that had left him with a knot in his stomach for days.

* *

The _Chimaera_ reached his home port five days after rescuing Rey and Hux. They were led to a shuttle, a trooper helping Hux get into the transport and they left the star destroyer to land on Herdessa. The place was nice, Rey decided when she exited the shuttle. It was probably the beginning of autumn there, judging by the colour of the trees on the surrounding hills but the wind toying with her buns remained warm. A man wearing the old Empire uniform greeted them and led them to a waiting speeder. Rey could not remember which rank corresponded to the red and blue squares on his chest. The First Order had somehow managed to make his own uniforms even simpler than the old ones – even some gangs wore more complex and colourful rank insignias than those two armies.

“Where are we going?” she asked as the speeder began to move.

“To a safe place,” Hux answered, “and to see an old friend of mine. I think you will like her.”

Rey remained doubtful. So far, the old-style Imperials had treated her respectfully enough but she was always expecting the other shoe to drop. It was probably too good to last. The Knights of Ren would find them. Or all of this was just a trap. She was so caught up in her ruminations that she did not immediately noticed when they reached their destination. The house was lightly guarded: only two stormtroopers standing at the portal. Beyond, Rey caught a glimpse of a well-trimmed garden and a low building made of… natural stone? She was impressed. All the buildings she had seen in her short life had walls of duracrete or steel – or, when you were in Niima, anything that resisted the desert winds.

Rey had not any time to explore the garden, as the main door opened and their host appeared. Leaning heavily on a cane, a dark-skinned woman with a set of complicated greying braids walked towards them and when she reached them, shook Brynden's hand, before suddenly dropping the act and giving him a brief hug that he happily returned.

"It has been a while, young man," she said with a smile.

"Indeed. May I introduce my friend, Rehani Antilles? Rey, Admiral Rae Sloane"

The two women shook hands.

"Pleased to meet you, ma’am".

"Welcome to Herdessa, Miss Antilles."

They walked towards the house, slowly to accommodate both Sloane’s bad leg and Hux’s recovery. The inside of the building was set simply but without sacrificing comfort, Rey noticed. There was an impression of warmth permeating the whole place that helped the young woman settle her nerves.

“If I may,” she said, turning to Sloane, “when did you start serving in the Navy?”

The older woman smiled.

“Well, by the end of the Clones Wars. Yes,” she added with a smirk when Rey stared at her wide-eyed, “I’m old. And not quitting yet.”

“Thank the Maker for that,” Hux mumbled.

“I had the command of the _Hydra_ for a while, before I was made Admiral,” Sloane mused, almost talking to herself.

“I know this one,” Rey blurted out without thinking. Sloane raised an eyebrow. “I... took part in its dismantlement. It's not finished yet, by the way. I found a lot of stuff there that I managed to keep, since they had no value for my boss. Drawing items, for instance, some old holodramas, that sort of things...”

The grey-haired admiral nodded.

“I think I know who the artist was. Unfortunately, he died in the battle, so you can keep his paints and pencils, and make good use of them. He would have loved that.”

Rey bowed.

“Thank you ma'am.”

Soon, the three of them were discussing the Order’s most recent allies and colonized worlds, which expanded much further than the Resistance had first thought.

“And what about Endor?” Rey mused. “Why didn't you try and take it back? There were some places that could be used for farming on that planet, from what I read in a galactic atlas, and just selling the wood from those giant trees would have made a small fortune. For decades, at least.”

“Quite true,” Sloane replied, “but your atlas is outdated. Half of the planet is a radioactive wasteland now, courtesy of a Death Star blowing up in orbit, and the rest fares not much better.”

No one had _ever_ mentioned that... Did it mean the Ewoks were now extinct ? Rey wondered. Some Imperial officers would certainly toast to such an event.

While the two women chatted animatedly, Hux was beginning to drowse. When Sloane noticed his heavy lids and the way his head lowered on his chest, she had a droid escort him to the nearest bedroom. Hux barely managed to take off his boots and jacket before sprawling on the bed. He fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.

Hux slept for more than thirteen hours in a row. When he woke, it was pitch black outside, and he had a curious impression. He was certain he had slept alone. The bed was not wide enough to accommodate a second person, anyway. Nonetheless he still felt warmer than the blanket would have normally allowed, as if someone had wrapped themselves around him during the night, arms around his waist and his back against their chest. Strange…

* *

Hux emerged from his room right on time for breakfast. He had gone back to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night, this time fully wrapped in his blankets, and had felt much better when he woke for good. He was still weak from the fever but his lungs did not burn anymore and his throat did not give the impression he was being choked. However, he needed to eat something, and soon. He found Rey and Sloane in the veranda behind the house, helping themselves with tea and a fruit salad as well as buttered toasts. The younger woman was apparently sampling a bit of everything and he could not suppress an indulgent smile at seeing her delight.

“Brynden,” Sloane greeted. “How are you this morning?”

“Much better, thank you, though I’m still not fit for one of your training trips, I’m afraid.”

Sloane pulled a chair for him and handed him a mug full of tea.

“Can you tell me what brought you on my ship in such a sorry state?”

After helping himself to his cup of excellent black tea, Hux began his tale. Sloane’s frown only grew deeper as he spoke.

“Looks like our Mister Snoke wants to crop all the ‘irresponsible ideologies’ from the military before they can turn against him,” Sloane mused. “I don't know if it is just a coincidence or the will of the Force, but as it happens, I'll host a meeting of ‘irresponsible ideologies’ within a few days, and I'd like you to attend. You and Miss Antilles.”

“Who are your guests?” Brynden inquired, suddenly suspicious.

A thin smile stretched Sloane's lips.

“Old friends.”

Hux groaned. That usually meant nothing good, as some of Sloane's friends were among the most reckless and daredevil officers the Empire had produced.

“That was for the bad news. On the bright side of things, you have two little visitors waiting for you in the garden,” Sloane added. “They wanted to see you sooner, but I thought it would be better if you had some rest first. You know how active they can get.”

Hux rose abruptly from his chair, tea and breakfast forgotten and barely excused himself as he went outside, Rey on his heels. The garden in question was closed by high hedges, with a winding path of small, square cobblestones leading to a pond and an old, twisted tree. Rey noticed two young girls sitting under the tree, reading on a datapad. As soon as Hux set foot in the garden, the children put the pad down on the grass and ran towards him. Hux knelt on the path and caught the girls in his arms as they reached him.

“Daddy! You're back!”

“Why did you grow a beard? It stings!”

“Why are you so late?”

“Hey, hey, slow down, girls! One question at a time, please,” he laughed.

Rey knew she should close her mouth, but this open display of affection was so... out of character for him. Then again, she had only seen him in dangerous situations, surrounded by people who wanted his head on a spike or on the verge of dying from an infection. She had no idea about how he could behave when he was in more... friendly surroundings. _Scratch that. I already saw how he took care of Ben._

“Who's the lady?” one of the girls asked.

“I'm Rey... and I'm certainly not a lady,” the young woman laughed.

“Don't you believe her,” Hux chimed in, “she's very nice. Here we have Vian, and the young miss here is Rivka.”

The girls circled around her, shyly touching her hand, then nodded, and went back to clinging to their father's arms. They were not identical twins, Rey noticed. Rivka had the same colouring as her father, the almost orange hair and the pale blue-green eyes, while Vian's hair was a darker shade of red, combined with brown eyes. Both had a lovely collection of freckles, though. She suddenly felt very cold.

“The twins...” she said.

“What about them?”

“They're both Force-sensitive.”

“Indeed,” Hux confirmed. “I dare say it's a family thing, now. Third, or even fourth generation in a row.”

Rey gulped.

“So... all their experiments...”

“Were conducted in vain. They did not work,” Hux said tersely. “And I cursed my daughters with those abilities.”

“It does not have to be a curse," she replied softly. "It can bring lovely moments as well. That’s why they’re so close to you even if you spend so much time away.”

Given the expression on his face, he had not thought about it in such a fashion. She noticed his grip tightening slightly on the children’s shoulders, then the twins dragged him to the pond to show him the lovely little fishes swimming there. Rey came closer, curious. She had never seen fishes being kept as pets, of course.

They spent several hours outside with the girls, Hux keeping an eye on them while Rey told them legends from the desert and receiving stories about huge forests and sea monsters in exchange, until it was lunchtime. Sloane did not eat with them this time, probably scheduling the meeting with her former colleagues. The four of them settled around the table and Rey was delighted to find real vegetables and an unknown fowl cooked with delicious spices. The twins looked at her curiously and she had to explain that, growing up on Jakku, she had not seen many green plants until some months ago. After that the girls went back to their meal, apparently satisfied. Rey, however, was not and had plenty of questions for Hux.

“What happened to your wife?” Rey asked between two mouthfuls of vegetables.

Hux shook his head.

“I was not married to the twins' mother. She... did that for a living, I think. Helping people who could not have children. She provided the other half of the genetics, bore and birthed the girls... We remained on rather friendly terms afterwards and I send her news of the twins regularly.”

Rey looked surprised. She had vaguely heard of such agreements but had never met anyone that had made use of them. The whole situation did not seem to bother the girls much. They were happy, smart and well-behaved, loved their father and were loved in return. _What more could a child ask for?_ she thought, when she had been deprieved of all that for most of her life. Granted, the alternative to Jakku, being ‘taught’ by Snoke, was not so appealing either. So far, Hux told her, the twins had not asked to meet with their biological mother, satisfied with their surrogate family. The exchange of pictures and messages was enough, for now. Perhaps, when they reached adolescence… Rey sensed it was time to skip to a less personnal topic.

“I have a lot of questions regarding the First Order, if you don’t mind. How did you manage to rebuild a fleet and improve on the old designs… so quickly? Because twenty years or so is rather short.”

He shrugged.

“In a way, the First Order did, on a larger scale, the same as you on Jakku. Salvaging everything we could. Parts from old ships, money whenever we could... Then several factors played to our benefice. Some planets in the Unknown Regions were mined for rare elements and ore... When something costs a thousand credits for half a pound, it's worth spending a bit to dig it up...”

He smiled.

“That alone would not have been enough, of course. The Muuns from the Banking Clan were particularly helpful as well. They were extremely offended when the New Republic tried to nationalize a part of their business, right after they had managed to rebuild their corporation from the mess the Empire had left. So they turned to us and lent us money at a very interesting rate. We associated with several small trading conglomerates… And of course, then Snoke appeared, with his knowledge of secrets accounts and hidden warehouses full of weapons.”

Rey nodded slowly, then went on with the following request.

“Why did you destroy the Hosnian system?”

He blinked several times. He had clearly not expected that question.

“I thought it was obvious,” he said. “In one strike, the Republic lost its government and most of its fleet, and the Resistance, its support in the Core Worlds. Without money, they will progressively lose technicians and pilots, and won't be able to maintain their little fleet. They won't find much help outside the Core. As you may have noticed, the Rim is not overly fond of Princess Organa and her way of dealing with changes in the galaxy. All of that without losing a single trooper. Don't worry. I certainly won't ask you to approve, nor even to understand or forgive me.”

“Good. Because I won't. It's just statistics for you, isn't it?”

“Rey, in a war, each side is just statistics for the other. Or are you going to tell me that anyone on D'Qar wondered how many people were stationed on Starkiller?”

She understood that, for him, it was no different from kicking a huge ant-hill in his back garden and watching the insects run in every direction. Order on his side, chaos for the enemy. It was awfully simple... and extremely efficient, destruction of Starkiller not being taken into account.

“And chasing after Jedi relics, and Master Luke himself?”

Hux straightened on his seat and grimaced as his joints cracked, then he replied:

“Let's say that the whole business started when Snoke allied with the high command of the First Order, about twelve years ago. Despite his... weirdness, the officers accepted his presence gladly because he was a real well of knowledge regarding the late emperor's projects. He knew about the secret warehouses, the research facilities, the accounts... He gave the First Order the means to regroup and organize the remains of the Empire and all the people dissatisfied by the Republic. Most of the the 'old guard' consider Snoke the same way as Palpatine: a sort of federative entity making decisions that the army translated as actions on the field, but he is much more dangerous.”

He reached for his glass of water and took a gulp before going on.

“It took me some time to understand it, but Snoke does not give a shit about the First Order and all the inhabitants of this galaxy. We are just a mean to an end for him. If the Republic had served his objectives better, it's where he would have settled, even if he had to get all the Senate under mental control. He could do it.”

“What does he want, then?” Rey inquired.

“We do not evolve in the same sphere, but I think that he is looking for a complete control over the Force. He wants to become its only universal master – eternally, if he can. All the Force-users he gathers around him are fated to remain his servants.”

Hux noticed Rey's horrified expression.

“Ren thought about it as well,” he added. “It's a quite likely scenario. And my own father had worked on something similar for the Empire: harvesting Force-sensitive children and experimenting on them to understand how the Force could be reached and transmitted from a parent to his or her progeny. It went on with Snoke's blessings. Thank the Maker above that Commandant Hux never learned about my own abilities... but then...”

Rey shivered, then asked:

“Did he know, for the twins?”

“Yes, he did. He found out when they were two by reading their medical file… without my consent or knowledge.”

“Did he want them to... join his program?”

“Yes. He was simply stupid enough to tell me about it.”

She did not turn to look at him.

“Did you kill him?”

He nodded wordlessly.


	11. Come-backs

This was their last stop before they came back to the base – the second after the attack on Kirdo. The high command suspected they had a spy among them after the previous attack but did not know where to start. They had already crossed the pilots off their list since it would have been completely stupid to put a spy in a position where he or she could be killed any time. Which left the medics, technicians, droids or… why not? One of the officers themselves. Organa was certainly getting more and more paranoid about it. The only one she still trusted completely was Admiral Ackbar, and the Mon Calamari would probably not remain with them for long; as he grew older and frailer, he often longed after the peaceful waters of his homeworld.

While Organa was buying the last supplies they needed, Finn had decided to take a decent meal in a cantina nearby, one which boasted of a Holonet receptor. The show the customers were watching was suddenly interrupted for a special flash. Finn watched the news, his initial incredulity slowly giving way to growing horror. A commando attacking an academy was suicide in itself, but deliberately targeting and killing children was a new level of low. They could have taken the kids off-world, given them a choice, anything but slaughtering them in their dorms. Nine children dead, thirteen injured, twenty-six assailiants killed... He fought a rising nausea as the holonews displayed the victims' faces. So young...

According to the speaker, the commando had been formed by Hosnian exiles and it was strongly suspected that the "infamous Resistance" had provided the weapons and explosives used during the raid. Finn knew better than to ask about it directly, but he prayed that it was just propaganda speaking, else there would be no hiding place for the Resistance anywhere in the galaxy. _That's not what we wanted to do... The Resistance was supposed to put an end to the murder of children, not commit more!_ And he could imagine the victims' parents demanding justice, just like the orphans of Hosnian Prime had done. _Where does this madness stop?_ He had harbored some hope when he had joined the Resistance. Now he just wanted to cry. When he found Poe, the pilot looked equally dejected.

* *

The effects of the inhibitors Hux had been taking for years were finally wearing off. Reconnecting with the Force was far worse than he had imagined. He had thought that he would perhaps feel dizzy and tired... not as if someone was drilling holes in his brain with a red-hot poker while punching him in the chest repeatedly for good measure. If it was that bad for him, how much worse could it be for Jedi-level Force-users?

The rest of the day went as in a daze. Hux felt lost, undone. The fear that had left him during a few days was coming back like a tidal wave and sent him in an awfully agitated state. Once again he furiously clawed at the palms of his hands and only stopped when blood began to drip on his trousers.

For years he had remained locked up in a mental cage, trying to forget he had the tiniest bit of Force-sensitivity and taking inhibitors to smother it. At first he had thought it would be just as easy as training at the Academy, when he had to push his body to its limits – and avoid the traps set by his condisciples. Of course, he had been terribly wrong. A part of his mind had been screaming vengeance for being deprived of its natural gift, generating strings of destructive rage, murderous impulses that had forced him to lock his emotions even more violently, creating a vicious circle that had threatened to crush him a bit more with each passing day.

Rey finally took pity on him after two days of absolute misery and shielded him from most of the interactions until he was able to handle them on his own. And as soon as Rey left, it happened again: that unseen presence in his room during the night. It did not feel creepy in any way; the presence was comforting, but Hux wanted to know for sure who it was. He had his suspicions, of course, so on the following evening, he ordered the lights at zero percent, closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. He did not have to wait for long; maybe fifteen minutes after the lights went off, he felt something, someone, settling on the bed behind him. Nothing happened for a moment, then one arm went around his waist, the ghost fingers resting right under his ribcage. Hux knew there was no one in there with him, that it was a trick of the Force, but the weight and warmth of that limb felt very, very real. He rolled onto his back, still feigning sleep, and the arm slid from his ribs to his hips so it would not impair his breathing. Hux allowed himself a smile.

* *

Six days had passed since their arrival on Herdessa when Sloane announced that her last guests had just landed and would reach her home within an hour. Hux ran to his room so he could comb his hair and put less casual clothes. He would not consider himself vain, but since he was going to meet old Imperial officers, he had to look his best, else they may not take him seriously enough. Rey joined him on the landing, having been fitted with cream-coloured garments that really complimented her tanned skin and freckles. Hux may not have been physically interested in women, but he knew some good fashion advice when he saw it.

“Any idea about who we’re going to meet?” Rey asked as they went down to the library.

“Several, but it’s hard to keep track of who’s dead and who’s alive,” Hux replied with a shrug. “That will be a surprise. Hopefully a good one.”

A mirthless chuckle escaped him when he entered the room and saw who, exactly, was waiting for them.

“I should have guessed,” he said. “You will never quit, will you?”

The man rose from his seat and Rey let out a small gasp when she saw his blue skin and red eyes. She had heard about Chiss, of course, who had not? but had never met one so far.

“I had heard you were dead,” Bryden went on.

“A close call,” the Chiss answered. “Captain Pelleaon was not so lucky.”

He turned towards Rey.

“I do not have the pleasure of knowing your friend.”

“Of course, my apologies, sir. Rey Antilles, Grand Amiral Thrawn.”

“Pleased to meet you, sir,” Rey managed.

Thrawn was still the Resistance’s least favourite bogey-man and even after his supposed (and completely disproved) death, managed to instill fear in experienced officers. Ackbar, for instance, still harboured a very strong… let’s say dislike for the man.

“The feeling is mutual. Would you take a seat? Admiral Sloane will join us soon with Colonel Jerhan.”

“Another spirit?” Rey whispered.

“Not quite. He’s more or less retired, but his survival was well-known,” Hux answered.

As he made his way towards the nearest armchair, Sloane and Jerhan entered the room. Jerhan made Rey think of an older version of Admiral Statura. He greeted her with a polite curiosity and shook Hux’s hand with a smile. As they sat around the table, the former General wondered what his father would make of him, as he was now. Brynden would have not been surprised if the old man had tried to have him hanged - good thing he was six feet under with no risk of reappearing as a Force-ghost.

Rey was invited to the discussions thanks to her knowledge of the Resistance and its leaders (and her bit of expertise about the Force). Sloane offered her a seat left to her own, a way of stating that the newcomer was under the Admiral's protection. She understood quickly that none of the officers was overly fond of Force-users, however. Perhaps a legacy of Vader's rather... special management of his staff. She would do her best to be considered as non-threatening as possible, then.

“Tell me, General Hux, do you still have some contacts among your former officers?” Thrawn inquired.

“I have encrypted channels to communicate with Admiral Adama and General Kale, and with the bridge staff on the _Finalizer_ ,” Hux answered.

“And your friend Kylo Ren?”

Rey wondered how exactly Thrawn could have known about the budding relationship between Hux and the Knight. A spy on the _Finalizer_ , probably. Hux would not like that. The redhead twisted his fingers nervously before replying.

“I don't know how long he can resist, mentally _and_ physically. Without even considering the constant mental invasion, Snoke's so-called training involves more starvation and pain than katas. While we treated his injuries from Starkiller, I found a _lot_ of old scars on his back and shoulders. He often flinches from contact. And until recently, he had absolutely no control over his temper. I believe Snoke deliberately weakened him so he would avoid a repeat of his misfortune with Palpatine.”

Three pairs of eyes blinked at the same time.

“What do you mean, with Palpatine?” Sloane asked in a tense voice.

Brynden looked particularly grim.

“I made some researches on Snoke, as much as it was possible. At first I thought he had been an inquisitor. With his extensive knowledge of the Jedi Order and the fact he had almost all the old imperial archives in his possession, it made sense.”

“Inquisitor? What is that?” Rey inquired.

“A special squad created by Palpatine in order to hunt all the Jedis who had escaped the purge at the end of the Clone Wars,” Brynden answered, “and to find Force-sensitive beings, preferably children, that could be turned into loyal servants of the Empire. Or killed. Most of those officiers were non-humans, if I remember it right. Another way for the old emperor to sow distrust and fear. Snoke's obsession with the Skywalker bloodline made me wonder, though. He could have gone for the Palpatines, gods know the old bastard did not manage to kill all his relatives, though not for lack of trying. Or the Kenobis - if there are still some around. But the way he talked about Ben... as if the boy was a kind of... return on investment...”

Rey pursed her lips in disgust.

“And where does this lead?” she asked.

“Combined with Snoke's injuries and his _other_ obsession with eternal life, I suspect we may be facing a Sith of old... the one Palpatine mentioned in the footnotes he left in the archives: his former master Plagueis.”

“And on a scale from one to ten, how bad is it?”

He gave her a sheepish grin.

“Eleven?”

She groaned and leaned against the back of her seat, hitting her head against it once and hissing some words that suspiciously sounded like curses. Jerhan considered her with some commiseration, then changed the topic.

“General, how many destroyers are available on your side? And are there some new units being built as we talk?”

“We have currently fourteen destroyers in operation, all with a complete fleet of fighters,” Hux replied. “Three others are still in the shipyards but should be launched within two months at most.”

“So you did not spend all your credits in Starkiller Base...” Thrawn commented.

The Grand Admiral raised an eyebrow.

“I must admit that your solution was visually impressive, even though I am not particularly fond of such unrefined methods.”

Hux did his best not to bristle. _Years of tests and calculations and hard work, 'unrefined'. I'll show you 'visually impressive'.._.

“Well,” he replied somewhat testily, “at least it got the job done. Eighty-five percent of the Republic fleet destroyed, a sudden vacuum at the head of the State and no more funding for the Resistance. More systems are joining the federalist party every month, so we can say that, except for the Core Worlds, we are now allied with most of the inhabited systems of this galaxy.” _Something that, despite your 'superior' theories, you never managed to achieve_.

Rey refrained from saying anything. No need to reveal what Hux thought about Thrawn's strategies. On the other side of the table, she saw Admiral Sloane pursing her lips, clearly annoyed by the direction this discussion was taking. A pissing contest was not what she had expected.

“Gentlemen...” Sloane warned.

Hux raised his hands in a placating gesture and the discussion resumed.

After several hours in a row, Rey felt exhausted. The tension in the room reverberated through the Force and gave her a massive headache. She promptly excused herself to go outside. She did not miss much, though, as the officers agreed to postpone the end of their meeting to the following day. As Hux was leaving the room, Thrawn stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“You seem compromised, General,” the Admiral stated. “Are you sure you should take part in this operation?”

“It is my duty to do so,” Hux retorted sharply. “I left my crew and my second-in-command to deal with Snoke and in conscience, I cannot remain inactive.”

“Perhaps you care too much for Lord Ren,” Thrawn said with something that could pass for worry.

“Ren is my second-in-command,” Hux replied. “Just tell me you never cared about _yours_.”

“Touché,” the Admiral conceded. “But I would advise to be careful; Snoke will make use of the... whatever exists between you and Ren to obtain intelligence on our plans.”

“I know he will try,” Hux replied, suddenly feeling queasy.

He turned on his heels and left abruptly. Thrawn watched him go pensively.

“You should not needle him so much,” Sloane told him, walking to the Admiral’s side. “I have already told you that he reacts very well under stress. With one exception.”

“I was merely checking some points,” Thrawn replied. “Do not worry for your former student; I may disapprove some of his methods but he is an excellent element. And I will not push him too far either. I remember very well what happened to Commandant Hux when he suggested his own granddaughters could join his... pet project.”

His voice was thick with disgust.

“Not a great loss, indeed," Sloane agreed.

* *

As they settled on Sarka, far from both the First Order and the Imperial Remnant, the Resistance lost technicians again and pilots were forced to do the maintenance on their fighters themselves, with the help of some droids. Those, at least, did not need to be paid, and thus would not desert the Resistance. But the situation was growing dire. Not everybody was fully qualified to repair damages on a X-Wing, which would certainly lead to accidents in the near future.

Their new position was not immediately signaled to the First Order, but soon after their arrival, several staff members suffered from (non-fatal) food poisoning, Lt Connix among them. Perhaps the crate in question had been contaminated or left unattended for too long before being delivered to the Resistance, but the high command was convinced the elusive spy was responsible for this as well. Working efficiently was becoming harder as the rooms and workshops were regularly inspected but, as Poe began to suspect, that was probably the point: disrupting the routine enough that no one would be able to do their job properly. The disappearance of Luke and Rey during the evacuation of Kirdo had already been a blow to the troops' morale, and the situation would only worsen if those small but repetitive incidents went on.

And go on they did. Two maintenance droids were found partially disassembled in a hangar. Then several power cells for blasters were found damaged. And someone broke the Holonet receptor. Whoever the spy was, Poe thought, this guy was clearly having the time of his life. If that bastard ever got his hands on BB-8, Poe would kill him. No trial for spies, that was the rule anyway. Not even a firing squad. Questions, and then a blaster bolt to the head, whether they answered or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since my favourite Imperial bastard is officialy integrated to the canon, I thought he could play a little part here...  
> I'm also using the "Snoke is Plagueis" theory in this story, though the idea that he could be Gallius Rax is particularly interesting as well.


	12. Building

Back on Herdessa, the officers had managed to reach an agreement over the campaign against Snoke and the atmosphere had relaxed a lot, which allowed Hux to spend more time with his daughters, much to the children’s delight.

The twins were closer to Rey's level than their father's and promptly attacked her with questions regarding the Force, the Jedi, and how to best use the power at their fingertips. Rey had to admit she enjoyed playing the big sister for them. And sometimes she caught a glance of Hux observing the three of them with a thoughtful expression. She finally understood that he wanted to ask her to teach him at least the basics of the Force, but a mix of shame and apprehension prevented him from doing so. She took him apart one afternoon and Hux relented, allowing her to show him some useful tricks.

It was strange, using an ability he had always silenced. The minds around him looked like a galaxy of lights, some brighter than the rest but all gleaming with intelligence. He wondered what he would see if he stared at Snoke that way. A black hole, perhaps, stealing strength and skills from everyone around him...

And Ren? Would his light shine differently from the others, now that he had rooted himself into Hux's mind and soul? There was only a growing... understanding? friendship? between him and Rey, and the young woman already stood out among his personal constellations. This question led to deeper reflections regarding the younger Knight and his future.

Ren was not an object to repair, not some kind of broken vase you could hold together with glue. That was the key, Hux thought: not considering the Knight as _broken_. However, the man was in desperate need of a good boost in his self-confidence, as well as several lessons to reapropriate his body to ease his trademark clumsiness when not fighting, but the simple fact that he accepted the help offered proved that he had not been as damaged as Snoke hoped. Nonetheless, if Hux was honest with himself, his planned 'therapy' for Ren also served as a nice 'fuck off' to Commandant Hux, whose only advice regarding mental illness was to put the afflicted people down like useless beasts of burden.

* *

Another topic to discuss, though not as pressing as the negotiations between Hux and Thrawn, was the creation of Rey’s lightsaber. She had acquired most of the needed parts in the nearest market on Herdessa but the crystal was still missing. llum was the most famous place for finding kyber crystals and as such, was probably closely monitored by the Order. Fortunately, other places could provide similar stones, particularly Ambria. Probably not a coincidence, but Lando's conglomerate had built a small station in order to exploit some of the mines on that planet. Sloane hesitated but finally agreed to let Rey go on her own, without Calrissian knowing she was more or less working with the Imperial Remnant.

And thus, a three-day trip in hyperspace with a civilian transport brought Rey to Ambria.

The planet was a big sand-and-caramel coloured sphere surrounded by four satellites, and very quickly Rey felt disappointed to discover that this world was nearly as dry and hot as Jakku – that being said, she could have guessed it, considering the relatively short distance between the planet and its sun. However, there were several mining facilities there, some lakes and rivers surviving the heat and the presence of huge, quite aggressive reptiles. A dream come true... But something told Rey that Ambria would bring a great change in her life, that she would find the heart of her saber on this world.

The shuttle landed on a platform perched over a small river. The compound underneath was mostly built underground because of the heat, one that made even Rey a bit dizzy. She was relieved to enter the relatively cool rooms of the base. Calrissian himself was not present on site, but he had left instructions that, should Rey or Master Skywalker ever arrive on Ambria, they would be granted full access to the mines.

Rey did not waste time during the following days. She absolutely had to create her own saber and without her crystal, she could just as well go back to playing with the staff she had used on Jakku. With a map of the mines and the advice of a guide, she began her search for a stone, which required more work than she had imagined first. She was feeling an impression, like a call from the tunnels but it was not as precise as she had thought after reading the archives Skywalker had gathered along the years.

It took her three whole days of wandering in the dark before she stopped in front of a rock like many others, except that the call came from there. The crystal was a murky green and she wondered what blade colour this stone would produce, but it was this one that called to her, and no other. With some tools she had borrowed from Lando's miners, she delicately pried the stone from its surroundings and after wrapping it in a cloth, put it in her bag. She left the mine with a new spring in her steps, smiling. She still needed materials for the outer casing of her future weapon, but things were progressing well so far, and she felt reasonnably optimistic regarding the success of her endeavour.

* *

Hux was relieved that Rey had not asked again to see the extent of his gift, as it seemed, in his opinion, ridiculously small, and he did not want to shame himself in front of her. If he had been able to, he would have sent a message straight into Chief Petty Officer Unamo’s mind to reassure her about his fate. But she was too far away, and Jacin Ren was still probably prawling around the destroyer. And Snoke... He did not know whether the old monster was aware of his weak abilities and the lengths he had gone to hide them. The fear was still present, though he did not remain locked up behind drugs. Perhaps all of this was just a virtual world, something produced by Jacin Ren’s perverse mind, yet he lost himself in it. He had nothing else, anyway. The illusion of a freedom he had never tasted.

He quickly shook himself from those depressing reflections. He still had a lot of work ahead of him if he wanted to be ready for the second round of negotiations that would bring the Imperials, the Federalists and himself around the table. Hopefully, Rey would be back before it started. Her presence would perhaps help smoothing things between the involved parties, as a relatively neutral – and unknown – party.

His first wish was granted when the young woman landed on Herdessa nearly two weeks after her departure. She showed him the crystal she had picked on Ambria, and to be honest, Hux had expected something more impressive. But, as her master had told her, the crystal did not reflect the blade it would produced once it was added to the casing and electronic components. The only part missing now was the outer casing of the saber. But since Rey was still contemplating the kind of weapon she wanted to create, this would come later. They had more pressing matters to attend first.

* *

The Federalists had not been as difficult to convince as Hux had feared. They were more than willing to enter a coalition to get rid of the most conservative members of the First Order and what remained of the Republic to install their own system. Unlike for Sloane’s informal meeting, they would need a large room this time, to host the two dozens or so ambassadors that would arrive soon to negotiate their part in the war effort and the federal government that would follow – should the coalition be successful.

And of course, Rey thought reproachfully, they could not arrive all on the same day, or travel with fewer ships. Nineteen shuttles or personal transports, no less. She hoped no one had noticed this unusual gathering, or the negotiations would not last long due to unwanted visitors.

The only face she knew among the delegates was Lando’s and she went to greet him before he was caught by the protocol required for the occasion. The old businessman was very pleased to see her again, worried as he had been after the attack on Kirdo.

“So that you know, your father and Luke are just fine, and working with me as usual. I’ll send them a message as soon as possible. Luke already knew you were fine, but poor Wedge won’t believe it until he can see you… or I send a confirmation.”

There had been an awkward moment afterwards, when the officers had met Calrissian and now that they were all seated around the table, they still looked rather ill-at-ease. Rey would not delve into their minds to discover the exact reason for that tension, but could easily guessed they had fought on opposite sides at some point and that things had gotten quite personal between Lando and the Imperials. After playing hostess for a while, though, she retreated from the crowded room. She needed some moments away from all those noisy presences in the Force to readjust her focus.

As she began to breathe in and out slowly, regularly, she felt something brushing against her mind. Her cousin was back for one of his irregular visits through the Force, it seemed. At first she ignored it but it became more insistent and she heard a ringing noise. Rey sniggered when a picture of Kylo Ren standing on a doormat with his finger on the bell formed in her mind. At least, he had learnt to ask for her permission before entering her mind, and to do so with humour. Perhaps Brynden and Luke were both right, and Ben was slowly clawing his way to independence.

 _“What do you want, scarecrow?”_ she asked with a smirk.

 _“Very mature,”_ Ren-in-her-mind replied. _“And they say **I** am a manchild... More seriously, I would like to know if your negotiations with the Imperial remnants are going as planned. Are you fine? No one tried to poison your tea?”_

It was unexpected but she smiled nonetheless. Luke and Hux were right indeed, Snoke's grip on Ben was loosening, if not completely gone already.

 _“Why, are you worried?_ ” she teased.

 _“I want to teach you, not to turn you into a mindless slave,”_ he growled. _“And you would not like meeting Jacin Ren nor Snoke.”_

Not "master" Snoke, she noticed, though she did not remark on it. Good. He did not seem to pick that particular thought, or he did not care.

_“There is another presence with you. I don't sense any hostility coming from it but it's not my uncle...”_

_“Sorry, I forgot,”_ Rey said. _“It’s about Hux. He is Force-sensitive, and apparently it's something entirely natural. He's getting better at using it, by the way. You may get your apprentice even if I refuse your offer.”_

She sensed a wave of relief and happiness from her cousin and could not help but smile. The simple fact that he cared so much about Hux was a proof he did not completely belong to the dark side. Or so she hoped. If they could work together… But perhaps she was getting a bit ahead of herself…

* *

Rey emerged from her meditation, stretched her legs and went back to the meeting room. As she entered, she noticed an element she had not seen before. Af first, the young woman thought it was a sculpture, but a very slight movement proved it was indeed a living being.

She eyed the creature with suspicion. The lizard in itself looked harmless enough; its claws were obviously made to grip tree limbs, not injuring people. Nonetheless, she felt... odd in its presence. Rey did not realize what it was exactly until the admiral managed to sneak up on her without the Force warning her of his approach.

“I see you have found my ysalamir,” he said with a pinch of amusement.

“What, pray tell, is that _thing_?” Rey hissed, glaring at the animal, which did not seem bothered at all.

“Those creatures evolved to generate a kind of Force-repellent bubble, if you wish,” the man explained, “since their predators are actively using the Force to hunt. The late Emperor had some interesting notions about them but never got to put them into practice.”

“You did, I suppose?”

“Not quite. I merely... borrowed some of them from their homeworld and they proved very useful against your old master. Not enough to provide victory, though.”

He brushed his fingers against his sternum, a gesture Rey had noticed before. An injury still bothering him, perhaps?

“I am surprised they do not disturb you more than this,” he added as an afterthought.

Rey shrugged.

“I'm used to working without the Force. I lived for nearly two decades without really using it. It does not change much in terms of everyday life. And it's kind of... refreshing not to consciously block the minds around me.”

For a moment, she thought about Brynden, who was certainly affected by the creatures as well, then remembered he had spent almost all of his life under inhibitors to avoid detection. Then she mustered some courage and asked the officer:

“What happened?”

pointing to the spot he had just rubbed on his chest.

“The Noghri, the sentients I used as bodyguards and agents for… special missions, had venerated Lord Vader for decades so when they made contact with his children, his daughter particularly, I lost them. They shifted their loyalty to Leia Organa quickly enough, and they did not waste time turning against the Imperial Army. I must admit I had not foreseen such a move… so when my personal guard acted, I was completely taken by surprise. My second-in-command tried to step in… and died for it. My own injuries were grievous enough that we had to concede defeat and retreat to what remained of the Imperial Sector. Reorganizing this area of the galaxy kept me busy for almost a decade and by then, the First Order had appeared and risen from the Empire's ashes. I did not know what to make of them, honestly, until Admiral Sloane mentioned several promising officers she had taught at the Academy, who were serving in the Order's fleet. The rest, as they say, is history.”

Rey nodded.

“What became of the Noghri after they joined the Republic?”

“Have you ever heard of the Trillia massacre?” he inquired.

“It was mentioned, yes, but just to tell me it was a good thing I had never heard about it,” she shrugged. “Why?”

“Trillia was the planet the Republic granted to the Noghri for their services, past and future,” Thrawn explained. “One of my fellow officers took offense of their actions and the reward they had received, so he managed to buy a little pack of rathtars. How exactly, I do not know, and he has always refused to say anything about it. Let's just say he unleashed them on Trillia and within a year, there was not a single living soul remaining on the planet.”

Rey tried to swallow the sudden knot in her throat. Polite and even courteous as he was, Thrawn remained a highly dangerous individual, ruthless, clever, and probably a nightmare on the battlefield. She would trust him only as far as she could throw him and even with the Force, that was not far enough to her taste.

* *

The discussions resumed, though the young woman did not participate as much as before. She was a bit weary of such lengthy sessions and knowing she was at least partially deprived of the Force left her a bit uneasy.

Rey cast a dark look at the ysalamir peacefully dozing at Thrawn's side. She had quickly grown to detest the lizard-like bugger. Its presence made it impossible to investigate the Admirals' intentions regarding Hux and herself. She imagined that Sloane, having been Hux's mentor during his training, would perhaps hesitate if Thrawn suggested his elimination, but she would rather not bet her own life on it.

She almost chuckled at the irony; if anyone had told her, just some weeks ago, that she would worry for the safety of one of the First Order's highest ranking officers…

Said officer proved very helpful when she started to work on her lightsaber. His experience as an engineer provided Rey with useful input, and in exchange he got to observe the whole process.

“If I may...” he said one afteroon as they both sat in their workshop.

“Hmm?” Rey muttered, still focused on her soldering iron.

“You should build two sets of controls, one for each blade, so that even if one of them is damaged you would not remain helpless. And you should use a material that can resist the heat of a saber for the outer casing, because such a long hilt will make a good target.”

She nodded.

“That ceramic used for the riot weapons of your stormtroopers... can it be found easily?”

He thought about it.

“It is possible to buy it legally, but the client’s identity is registered as well as the destination of the material. You will need some forged documents. And yes,” he added when she looked hopefully at him, “I know someone who can provide them. As for any additional components, you will be able to get them in one of the city markets, they are common enough.”

“Thank you so much,” she grinned.

“You’re welcome. I am not completely selfless, however,” he added with a smirk. “I would like nothing more than seeing you cut Snoke down with this weapon. So of course I’ll help you make it.”

Rey’s smile grew even wider. Hux wondered whether it was truly a good idea to indulge her so much, but she had such a bright and cheerful personality he could hardly resist. And if he was honest with himself, he rather liked playing elder brother.

* *

The last round of negotiations took place a week later and thankfully concluded on a decent agreement. Hux watched all the delegates leave with a certain relief. Though he had completely recovered, he could not help feeling a bone-deep exhaustion after leading so many debates. They would be all back into battle soon enough.

“Anything else you would need?” Thrawn wondered after they had watched the last group take off from the spatioport.

Hux smirked.

“Three years ago, I would have certainly asked for two dozens of your ysalamiri on the Finalizer.”

Sloane snorted and hid her smile behind her hand.

“And now?” Thrawn inquired.

“I'd still like two dozens, but only when I pay a visit to Snoke.”

“I will think about it,” Thrawn deadpanned.

This being cleared, Hux was able to go back to his new project: participating in the making of a functioning lightsaber. It was time Rey purchased the ceramic she needed for the casing. Hux could hardly use his own account to buy the product, as it was probably monitored by Snoke’s spies, so she would have to go and buy it herself directly at the main factory. “You will have to get more formal clothes,” Hux observed. “And I know you won’t like it, but a bit of make-up will certainly help as well.”

“I’ve never put any make-up in my life,” Rey stammered. “I’ll look ridiculous!”

Brynden laughed at that.

“Don’t worry. There are some people in the house staff that will be able to help you.”

“Thank the Maker...”

When she was introduced to the maid that was supposed to assist her, Rey realized her thanks might have been a bit premature. The woman was over-enthusiastic at the prospect of taking care of such a charming young lady, as Admiral Sloane had never been fond of frills. Indeed, Rey could hardly imagine the Admiral wearing an evening dress or fancy jewellery. Which meant her maid had a lot of wasted opportunities to catch up.

By the time she was done with her ‘victim’, Rey could barely recognize herself under the features of this very elegant businesswoman. It was the first time in her life she had ever put some powder and lipstick on and she had to admit she did not look bad. The makeup hid some spots and tiny scars on her face and the colour of her lips now complimented her outfit very nicely. The tailored jacket and the matching skirt were cut in a fabric that reminded Rey of a very soft suede, the dove grey colour of the outfit reminding her of the clothes she had been offered on D’Qar, that were still stuffed in her bag.

At least she would not go alone, so if she fumbled at some point, there would be someone to catch her before she made a complete fool of herself. She would only have to worry about not damaging her clothes and not swearing like the worker she had been until some months ago.

The woman tasked with escorting her introduced herself as Liet and worked as an accountant. Her face, framed with thick, shoulder-length auburn hair, reminded Rey of someone, but she could not tell where she had seen her. On a research notice, perhaps? She would be both a guide and an assistant for Rey during the whole visit and would help her avoid any mistake. She had some experience with that kind of missions but thought it would be better if the young woman received some live lessons about spying and infiltrating.

During the whole trip to Fondor, Rey was feeling nervous. She had of course never been to a theater and her very few incursions behind enemy lines had been extremely furtive. Never had she played someone else before an audience. At least she would not be alone for the discussion.

This firm certainly made a lot of benefits and its owner wanted it to be obvious at first glance. His office was rather flashy, Rey decided, when you compared it to Lando's building on Ithor.

There was not an ounce of resin or plastic in there; everything had been made with natural materials, many of them imported. The whole set could have been pleasing without the too bright lacquer or the ‘modern’ paintings displaying garish colours. Rey would rather not imagine Thrawn’s reaction if he was subjected to that… ahem… art.

At least their interlocutor was polite enough not to patronize them. As long as Rey and Liet had the money, they could ask him anything. Incredible, what you could do with some credits… In fact, he was so pleased to host new clients with the First Order patronage that they managed to buy enough ceramic for two of the hypothetical mining droids their imaginary firm wished to test. Though, Rey thought, a new type of fireproof auxiliary droid would probably be a success on some industrial colonies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just saw Rogue One this afternoon and... wow! It's definitely worth it. If they could do something in the same spirit for Episodes VIII and IX...


	13. Dreamers

_Hux knew he was asleep in his room on Herdessa; the illusion was so perfect however that he could almost believe he had really been transported to that balcony overlooking the skyline of Coruscant. He had seen that place before; in fact, he had met Kylo Ren there for the first time, when the boy had still been Ben Solo._

_“Ren?” he called._

_“Here, General,” the Knight's deep voice answered from behind him._

_Kylo Ren walked to the guardrail, leaning on it without looking directly at the other man._

_“Why did you bring me here?” Hux inquired, raising an eyebrow._

_“I wished to talk with you, away from unwanted ears,” Kylo explained. “Snoke never managed to gain access to this imaginary place in my mind. I’m glad to see it worked, as this kind of connection is often unstable. And I must admit, I was curious about your new... ah, abilities,” he added with a rueful smile._

_“There's nothing ‘new’ about them,” Hux grumbled. “Thanks, nonetheless. Anything I should know regarding the First Order?”_

_“A lot,” Kylo said more seriously. “Your officers are... not pleased with Snoke's most recent actions. He is going to cost us most of our allies at this rate.”_

_Hux groaned in dismay._

_“Adama may have... taken care of Sonkal Ren in order to avoid another... diplomatic issue,” Kylo confessed. “Not that I mind her actions. Had she asked, I would have done it myself. It's high time you came back. Bring as many people as you can. Snoke still retains supporters in the First Order and though they are a minority they won't surrender easily. And some of them are leaving their current tasks for a destination unknown, but since no order ever comes to arrest them, I must conclude that those departures are sanctioned by the highest authority. For instance, Lieutenant Phasma resigned her commission four days ago, took a shuttle and has yet to come back to your ship.”_

_The redhead nodded grimly then hesitated for an instant, before asking almost shyly:_

_“Should we meet again... will you teach me how to use it?”_

_A wide, genuinely happy smile blossomed on Kylo's scarred face and he squeezed Hux's hands between his, grinning like a fool. The former General had not expected such an enthusiastic reaction._

_“I will,” the Knight promised solemnly._

_“Thank you for trusting me with this.”_

_“I trust you with my mental well-being every night, it seems,” Hux drawled in answer. “I can't do much more than that.”_

_He smirked when Ren blushed, the colour spreading from his cheeks down to his neck, and probably past his collarbone._

_“If it bothers you...” the younger man said in defeat, “I'll stop doing it. You just have to ask.”_

_“No, it’s fine. And I'd like you to stay a bit longer this evening, please. Tell me about the Force or... whatever you wish.”_

_The smile came back, softer._

_“Fine. What about the different forms of lightsaber fight?”_

_Hux grinned._

_~_

_It felt as if several hours had passed when Ren was finally done with his improvised conference and Hux had to admit he had really enjoyed it. The Knight looked almost embarrassed when Hux told him so._

_“May I come back next night?” Ren inquired._

_“Please,” Hux replied. “I would like to learn more. And to make sure you do not kill yourself in some reckless mission, of course.”_

_Kylo resisted the temptation to stick his tongue out, but barely. He was trying to prove that he could act like a mature individual when on his own, and he did not want to disappoint Hux. Furthermore, he truly enjoyed teaching some Force-lore to the other man, so he would remain on his best behaviour for those nightly sessions._

* *

Reports were being sent to Herdessa in an almost endless flow of notes and Holonet messages, and Rey had to put her lightsaber project on standby to help Hux and Sloane analyze the data. The news they received left the former General torn between cheering and banging his head against his desk. Among the units in the Fleet placed directly under Snoke or his Knights’ authority, the desertions had increased to a level never seen before. Very few of those deserters joined the Resistance, most taking service with those the First Order labelled as free fighters, and the Republicans as federalists while some others went back to civilian life or discreetly came back to take service on a ship that was not controlled by a Force-user.

However, the loss of soldiers was a tiny drop compared to the numbers the Order had recruited, and their strategy was bearing fruits.

The First Order had won seventeen more systems during the last two months, Jakku among them, and Rey was curious to know what had changed on her former homeworld. One of Lando's agents, who regularly came to the desert planet to gather intel and spare pieces, gave her some details. The first thing she learnt was Unkar Plutt's ‘tragic’ end. The agents from the Order’s Intelligence Service had landed and started asking questions directly to the scavengers, the man explained. Who was a good station manager, who did not pay the workers fairly, who gave stale rations or worse, contaminated water... then they started arresting managers according to the answers.

“Now the distribution of water and food is not linked to the work itself, and people are payed in credits, depending on the weight of metal or the quality of the pieces they bring back. Easily three or four times more than they got before. But they scratch so much that even with building a recycling factory on the planet, those little bastards still make profits out of it! And it makes them a good publicity.”

Rey could believe it : the scavengers on Jakku were not supposed to stay for very long on the planet and if they were paid better, they would spend less time there to get the money they needed – and they would become as many propaganda agents for the First Order's efficiency. The Order itself had just laid claim on the biggest store of spare parts in the galaxy, not to mention the databanks still present on the crashed ships. She did not know if it warranted a bottle of sparkling cocktail of not, but she felt rather pleased on behalf of her new team mates. And the old ones from Jakku as well.

This being said and done, she had to put the finishing touches to her lightsaber. And pray that it would not explode at its first activation.

* *

Sometimes Hux thought he had never been so busy, even on the Finalizer. His days were spent establishing a new strategy for the motley army Sloane was recruiting, and his nights learning more about the Force. To be honest, he liked Ren’s lessons much more than the long hours locked up in a room with more or less reluctant allies.

_This night Ren had transported them on Naboo. Though he had never met his grandmother, the place held a special meaning for him and he had gathered as much knowledge on the planet as he could, even if he had not had the opportunity to visit yet. The Knight’s last extravagant idea was to teach Hux how to use a lightsaber. Hux scoffed at that._

_“Don't be ridiculous; I'll never have the sensitivity required to use such a weapon.”_

_Ren laughed in turn._

_“You don't need to be Force-sensitive to wield a ligthsaber. True, it will allow for more precision and some acrobatics, but anyone can learn to use a saber without cutting their own hands.”_

_Hux thought about it for a moment, then a smile slowly spread his lips._

_“So you mean you could teach me that as well?” he asked._

_“Aren't we greedy...” Kylo scolded him. “But yes, I could. If we both make it, I will.”_

* *

Several days passed before anyone saw Rey. Food plates were left at her door, but she barely touched them and most of them went back to the kitchen intact. Hux was beginning to worry about her health, though Kylo assured him that it was not uncommon for Force-users to isolate themselves very carefully when they worked on their weapon.

Even though she liked a good betting pool from time to time, Sloane did not dare comment about the situation. Hux had never liked people dissecting his private life – or lack thereof. And anyway, had the Admiral bet on a relationship between Rey and Brynden other than friendly, she would have lost.

Eventually, Rey left her lair, and emerged with a completed lightsaber. Or double-bladed staff, to be more precise. Most of the household immediately pestered her so that she would light it in public, and they could claim they had seen at least one Jedi weapon in their life. Rey consented to indulge them, but ordered everyone to respect a certain safety distance, in case the staff malfunctioned.

“Does it happen often?” Sloane inquired.

“Well, Master Luke never had any problem with his, but he found some records of such accidents, when Padawans had been careless during one step or the other.”

“Let’s hope you did everything according to plan, then,” the Admiral smiled.

Rey decided to operate in the back garden. It was large enough that no one – or so she calculated – would be injured should her weapon explode.

Rey felt her heart hammer against her ribs. She would have liked her parents to be there, or even her long-departed co-students from the temple. She cast a quick glance to the glass doors leading to the house, where her small audience had gathered. Thrawn was there as well, but without his pet lizards. Rey nodded to the group. She had people who at least liked her close and showing their support. What more could she ask for?

Gritting her teeth, she activated her saber.

And slowly let a breath out as the familiar hum of a plasma blade reached her ears. Not quite reassured yet, she activated the second blade without generating a cataclysm. From the door, the onlookers sighed in relief as well.

Rey made some katas with her weapon and soon some members of the staff cheered. She allowed herself to smile and be proud of herself, for once.

 _“Congratulations. I’m very eager to see your creation with my own eyes soon,”_ she heard in her mind.

Kylo disappeared as quickly as he had come, leaving her reeling a bit.

* *

In the evening, after both Thrawn and Sloane had retired, Liet dragged Rey to the house’s huge kitchen, which was crowded, the tables covered with various foods dans drinks. Apparently, the rest of the staff had prepared a little fiesta to celebrate her success.

“And if I had failed?” she wanted to know.

“Well, we’d have still drunk something, but in your memory,” Liet answered, a beer in hand. “Nothing is lost, everything transforms.”

Rey accepted a glass of a multi-layered cocktail without exactly knowing what was in it. Her life on Jakku had not given her an extensive knowledge in terms of alcohols, except for the very few bottles that had survived the crashes that she had discovered in the officers' rooms.

Once she had finished her drink she carefully avoided taking another, as the mixture had left an unpleasant aftertaste in her mouth. Glancing around the room, she noticed Hux had left, and decided to imitate him. Claiming she had not slept one hour in the last four days, Rey took her leave, which did not stop the party, however.

* *

While Rey, completely drained, fell asleep almost as soon as her head touched her pillow, Hux was once again transported to Kylo’s personal dreamland. Kashyyyk, this time, Hux deduced, from the giant trees and the wooden houses they supported.

Ren looked quite agitated, he noticed.

_“Anything I should know?” Hux inquired._

_“My ashes are starting to look a little bit lonely,” the younger man stated with a smirk. “I could add some more to the collection; it would do wonders for my nerves.”_

_“As long as Snoke’s are a part of it, please do. I would hate seeing you revert to the console-breaking fool you were during last year.”_

_“That’s why I come to see you so often,” Kylo confessed, his voice softer._

_“I don’t understand.”_

_“I feel... grounded when you're here, in my mind. Stable. And I cannot sense Snoke poking in my thoughts anymore,” Kylo explained. “It's like your influence is repelling his.”_

_“I'm hardly on par with him,” Hux scoffed._

_“It's not only a matter of raw power,” the younger man replied. “The... nature of said influence is also a factor. Snoke seeks nothing but complete domination. Concepts such as kindness, comfort… even love, are totally unknown to him. Or rather, he knows about them but does not use them. I wonder if he ever did.”_

_Hux nodded slowly._

_“Is that what you feel when we meet here?” he asked._

_“Yes,” Ren confirmed. “Stability. Protection. You allow me to be my own man; you never ask me to become something or someone else. That is something I have... grown to treasure.”_

_That confession was not something Hux expected and he remained speechless for a moment. He had never imagined he could have had such an impact on the younger man. Raising his hand, he touched Ren’s cheek and the Knight turned his head slightly to nuzzle at the scared palm._

_“At least I managed to do one thing right,” Hux joked weakly, his voice cracking. “My father and his colleagues did not believe a skinny little bastard like my could do anything properly.”_

_He saw Ren roll his eyes._

_“That's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard in a while,” he stated, his voice tinged with disbelief. “Even after all their failures, they still think their Imperial bloodlines to be more important than competences?”_

_“How would you know anything about that, Prince Organa?” Hux growled, trying to push the old pain down. _

_“Pah,” Ren shrugged. “My mother was adopted, the planet does not exist anymore, and for the old Alderaanian nobility, I'm a bastard as well.”_

_“But your parents were married when you were born,” Hux objected._

_“They were not when I was conceived,” Ren replied. “Apparently that was enough for some of those twats. And let’s not get started on my grandparents’ marriage, which was even more dubious. Fake identity, only droids as witnesses, going against the Jedi Code… you can hardly do worse than this.”_

_Hux scoffed._

_“Ridiculous!”_

_“Yeah, well... I suppose those old-blood jerks are equally stupid, no matter which side they're on. Looking at them, you can only be convinced that a bit of fresh genetics from time to time cannot hurt.”_

_Ren turned towards Hux, his gaze softening._

_“Anyway, it's well-known all across the galaxy that bastards are smarter and more handsome than legitimate children,” he said with a smile._

_The tension slowly flowed from Hux's shoulders, the anger giving way to fatigue. Ren took the hint._

_“It's time I let you sleep properly,” he said. “We'll see each other again soon.”_

So Hux let himself drift away from their dream-world, still feeling the warmth of Ren's arms around him. He was still trying to process the fact that Ren had not mocked him for his low birth when he fell asleep. He felt much more optimistic than usual when he woke on the following morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I'll be quite busy in the kitchen tomorrow and so unable to post, merry (early) Chistmas to all my readers ! :)


	14. It’s All in Your Head

There was one last step in the negociations that left everyone quite apprehensive. In order to avoid being attacked by the Resistance during their coup against Snoke, the Imperial Remnant and the First Order would have to discuss terms with their current enemies, or at least, the part that would accept their truce offering. It had been decided that Hux would remain backstage for this round, and the former General, not taking offense in the slightest, instead grabbed with both hands the opportunity to spend more time with his daughters… and learn more from Ren, of course. He was particularly interested in the connection they seemed to share in their dreams. One night, it took a direction that none of them had really foreseen, though they had probably been hoping for it for some time when it happened.

_“It works better when both sides are Force-sensitive,” Ren was explaining. “There are still some things off, but it seems much more realistic than when you share it with a 'blank'.”_

_“Yet I'm very far from your level,” Hux objected, not for the first time. Ren shrugged, then replied seriously:_

_“A more personal connection between the people involved may help, I suppose. There are not many documents about this. Attachments forbidden, and all that.”_

_“More personal, uh?” Brynden drawled, hiding how much the idea appealed to him._

_He chuckled when Ren started to blush; then the younger man's smile came back with a touch of mischief._

_“Not sure if an old grouch like you knows what I mean, of course...”_

_“Show me, then,” Hux challenged._

_Ren shoved him backwards playfully, his hands flat on Brynden's chest. They seemed colder than in real life and almost weightless; Kylo still had to perfect his art. Yet it felt real enough when the same hands craddled his face carefully, tipping his head up so that Kylo could kiss him._

_He had not known (admitted) he wanted it so much. And now he could not bring himself to stop, even though he knew he would wake alone on the next morning._

_They knelt on the… ah well, it was not the floor anymore, but a rather comfortable bed, with plump pillows and a warm blanket. Ren impatiently tugged on Hux’ shirt and the older man obliged him by removing it._

_“I’ve never seen you like this in real life,” Ren muttered. “Do you have scars, or freckles, perhaps?”_

_Hux nodded._

_“I had the four bars of my rank tatooed on my left wrist, if you want to know,” he counted on his fingers, “and I received a glancing blow with a vibroblade during training, once. Here,” he said, pointing above his right hip. “It’s rather small, just a white line. No freckles, though,” he added with a smile._

_“Shame. That would have looked beautiful,” Ren complained._

_“Why don’t you take off your tunic?” Hux suggested. “I’ve already seen you without it, though I’ll grant you that the medbay was not the best place for… detailled observations.”_

_The younger man laughed a bit, but it was obvious he felt nervous, and Hux wondered how many times exactly Ren had undressed for a lover… if it had ever happened._

_“Never,” Ren confirmed sadly. “I got my first… ah, experience during a kind of ritual when I joined the Knights of Ren, but even if I consented, it was less than pleasant. It was kind of ‘insert rod A into slot B’ and be done with it.”_

_That was rather sad, not to mention humiliating, Hux thought. Another reason to give his partner an experience to remember. He pushed lightly at Ren’s shoulders until the younger man lied down on the bed, his shirt thrown to the floor. The scars he had received during his fight on Starkiller were white and gleaming on a skin dotted with tiny moles. Hux idly traced patterns between them, prompting a chuckle from Ren. Then he moved to straddle Ren’s hips and bent to kiss him, before lowering his hands to the other man’s sides and caressing the skin there gently. Ren’s own hands went to Hux’s hips and gripped him firmly. They rocked against each other, drawing moans and pleas from Ren’s mouth for more, juste a bit more. Muttered prayers and praises exchanged. Then Ren pushed Hux back, pulling his trousers down to his knees in the same move, baring muscular tighs and a rather… impressive cock, in Hux’s opinion. He wanted nothing more than to put his hands, or perhaps his mouth on it. If Ren asked for it, of course. The other man had probably heard that thought because he immediately started begging._

_“Touch me, please. I’d like to believe this is the real deal. For once.”_

_He looked like he wanted to cry and Hux could not deny him, even though he was not convinced this pretense was truly healthy. He began stroking Ren’s length, slowly at first, enjoying every gasp and twist of his lover’s body. When Ren’s fingers dug harder over his hipbones, Hux stroked faster, teasing the head with his thumb while Kylo arched his back under him._

_“Please, please, Bryn… Love you...”_

_Hux felt the dreamworld shatter around him and Ren’s grip in him vanished._

_“Ren, wait…!”_

“Ren!”

Hux woke in his bed on Herdessa, alone as usual. It had been a dream. Just a dream... He lowered his eyes to notice that the sheets were sticking to his tighs. A very _vivid_ dream, all right. Had Ren really said he loved him? Or had it just been his imagination working and filling the silence with his own wishes?

* *

During breakfast, Rey could not keep her eyes from Hux, apparently sensing something different with him, tough she was smart enough not to ask anything before they had left the table and gone for a walk in the garden.

“You look as if you can’t decide between being pleased or pissed off,” the young woman stated. “What happened?”

“Your bloody cousin happened,” Hux snapped. “He went for a love confession in the middle of a rather pleasant dream, then kicked me out of it before I could even process what he had just said.”

She grinned.

“Well, you’re defintely making progress. Perhaps he was just as surprised as you were, and that’s why he lost the connection.”

“I can only hope Snoke never heard that,” Hux groaned.

Rey shivered then added:

“You won’t be too distracted on tomorrow? Admiral Sloane said the envoy from the Resistance would arrive in the morning.”

“Saying I’m ready for this is a lie bigger than my ship, but it will have to do. Anyway, I’ll just have to greet them, and then I’ll make myself scarce. It can’t be so difficult.”

She gently patted his arm, earning herself an amused snort, then Hux left her at her katas. He still had to reread the drafts Sloane had provided him for the agreement they would hopefully reach with the most moderate members of the Resistance. Interestingly enough, those were also the youngest, the last recruits, even though they had grown up with the tales of how their parents had defeated the evil Empire. Perhaps because they had heard of nothing but war for years, before being thrown into another. Something that Hux understood very well.

* *

The meeting between the Resistance staff and the Imperials was just as stiff and awkward as it had been with Lando. To avoid suspicion, only Admiral Statura had left the base with the tiniest group he could manage without making it look insulting. Rey counted a grand total of four people, Statura’s pilot being Jessika Pava. She could not imagine Poe agreeing to such an encounter, to be honest.

She was pleasantely surprised, however, when she spotted a fifth figure walking behind the officers, his long brown cloak and beard making Luke Skywalker easy to identify.

“How did you ever get away from Kirdo?” Rey asked as soon as her teacher joined her.

He gave a sheepish smile.

“I may have borrowed an X-Wing...” he confessed, much to Rey's amusement.

“You could not resist, uh?” she teased.

“Well... no. I missed it too much, I’m afraid. You should try it. I’ like to teach you that as well, very much so.”

She nodded happily, before the mood soured a bit when Admiral Thrawn noticed the newcomer. The Admiral and the Jedi eyed each other for a moment, then nodded and joined the others in the conference room. Hux let out a relieved sigh when they walked past him. Somehow he had developped a certain... respect for the old Knight and it would have been terribly embarrassing if two of the negotiators had started a fight, verbal or otherwise.

As he had told Rey, he had excluded himself from the discussions and promptly left the room to go and check on his daughter’s lessons.

* *

The first round lasted almost nineteen hours in a row and in the end, even Thrawn looked like he was going to fall asleep on the spot. Everyone called for a break and the diplomats left the conference room with poorly hidden relief.

Hux watched them go with a bit of sympathy. He had not expected being accosted by the old Jedi, however.

“I dare say I am pleased to see you again, and in better health than before. You did an impressive job here,” Skywalker stated.

“I’m trying,” Hux replied. “I’m doing my best, or my worst, to avoid losing more men. If it means I have to suffer some snide comments, let it be.”

“You did well to come and hide here,” the old man went on. “Snoke was furious not only because of Starkiller, but also because you put a massive dent in his plans for Ben. The constant weakening of his control over the Force, his erratic behaviour... those things did not exist when he was still a child. The more I analysed it, the more I was convinced that Snoke wished to discard his old, damaged body, for a new one. Younger, stronger, more attractive. A perfect trap for his next victims.”

Hux suddenly felt sick. What would have become of Ren if Snoke had succeeded? Though he said nothing, his horror must have shown on his face, since Luke answered:

“Ben would have been completely erased. Not a single memory left, just the body. Han's murder should have been the last step before he lost himself, and Snoke could take over,” he mused. “But he had not expected you to be curious of Ben's condition, nor to show sympathy when you discovered how mistreated he had been. And how could he, when he had done everything to pit the two of you against each other right from the start?”

Hux nodded slowly. He had suspected for a long time that Snoke was playing his two commanders for fools, but he had thought it had just been for the ancient creature's twisted amusement, not that he considered them as potential threats. _And we were not, as long as he kept us at each other's throat..._

“I dare say you made a huge difference for Ben and for that, I am infinitely grateful.”

“Best not tell your sister that,” Hux snorted.

Skywalker smirked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I wish you a (early) happy new year and good times with your friends and family.  
> Second, I may post a bit slower in the future than my current pace, as the rest of the story is just bits and sequences that need to be linked together.


	15. The Most Unlikely

The preparation of their next mission taught Rey a few things, the most important being the identity of the spy who had been a thorn in the Resistance’s side for several months. Admiral Statura was still polishing the last details of the treaty with Thrawn and Rae Sloane, leaving his small escort with Rey, who noticed that, unlike her colleagues, Pava had not trouble talking with Hux and the more she observed them, the more she was convinced they had met beforehand, and several times at that.

When Rey began to eavesdrop on them, they were discussing Ren.

“Though... I have to wonder as well. Why would you do that for him?” Jess was asking, thankfully more curious than angry.

Brynden stopped on his tracks and turned to face the pilot.

“Tell me, Lieutenant Pava: let’s say FN-21… sorry, Mister Finn was taken by the First Order, brainwashed and put into one of those white armours again, would your friend Poe Dameron just stand by? How far would he go to have him back?”

Jessika nodded and whistled.

“Wow… you’re serious. Well, congrats. Or I’ll say it when we’re all back from the mission, preferably in one piece, right?”

He nodded, then left the room, probably to review his plans once more. Seeing them so at ease with each other, Rey finally understood how the First Order had been able to find the Resistance bases so easily. Having a spy amongst the pilots was a risky bet but it had paid nicely. No one would have ever suspected Jessika Pava. The other woman noticed her staring.

“Are you going to run me through with that lightsaber of yours?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rey shrugged.

“I suppose you had a good reason to do it. Same as the other First Order staff I met, I assume: your family was kicked out of their house and driven to the Unknown Regions, which led to very harsh times?”

“Quite right, except that most of my family was executed,” Jessika replied without a hint of anger, sounding rather tired instead.

“Far from me to judge you," Rey assured. "My mother's family did their share of collaboration with the Empire. And I kind of ran away with your boss, as well.”

Jessika chuckled.

“I serve under Admiral Adama but I appreciate the gesture nonetheless. Hux is rather popular with his officers and... ahem, private contractors.”

Rey nodded. She still had a hard time processing the fact she had developed a tentative friendship with the former General, but listening to his interactions through the comm with Unamo and Mitaka in particular, not to mention his children, had proved the man was not a hundred percent evil.

Rey watched as Jess traded jokes with the others, some time later. They had not idea... and she would do nothing to change that. She had no right to judge Pava's choices, not when her own could be labelled just as questionable. She suspected that, if Jess did not leave quickly after the battle, General Organa would want to have some _words_ with her.

* *

It had been decided that, in order to coordinate their actions in an optimal way, Hux would have to go back to his dear _Finalizer_. His officers had received the memo and Adama, though very well accepted by the crew, would be pleased to return to her own ship. Once there, the motley group of Resistance, First Order and Imperials would get a full conference about the place they were going to attack.

Rey had known that Hux was rather well-liked by his officers and technicians, but she had not expected the huge wave of relief that washed over the whole ship when they finally reached the Finalizer, orbiting above Utapau. Some members of the bridge crew clearly wanted to cheer, she noticed, but managed to remain professional. At her side, Hux was radiating pride, and even happiness, which promptly soured, however, when he discovered that Kylo Ren was not on board anymore.

“Where is our resident knight?” he asked Adama.

“Snoke called him back at last,” she replied. “He left four days ago for Esfandia.”

“Precisely when we plan to attack the place...” Hux groaned.

“Snoke is there as well. I suppose he wanted to have his apprentice within reach. He may also have started to notice Ren slipping from his grasp,” she added in a lower voice. “Do you know if Thrawn will send more of his forces to join us?”

“He will,” Hux assured. “Esfandia is too close to his stronghold on Nirauan not to do anything about it.”

“But _what_ is on Esfandia?” Rey demanded.

“Patience, young lady,” Hux chided her gently. “You’ll know soon enough.”

They dropped their travel bags in Hux’s quarters before going to one of the conference rooms.

Between the Imperials, Resistance and First Order strategists, the place was crowded. Rey slid along a wall and found a seat near a man looking barely older than her, who had nonetheless a huge scar cutting his right cheek from jaw to hairline and from the stifness in his right leg, she guessed it was a prosthetic. He moved slightly on his left to give her more room.

“Thanks. I’m Rey.”

“You’re welcome. Thanisson.”

They could not say more, as Hux and Adama entered the room, followed by Thrawn, Rae Sloane and Statura. Seeing the three uniforms of the Empire, the Order and the Resistance coming together for a common conference was weird. Seeing Hux in uniform, after weeks of relatively casual clothes, was strange as well, though Rey had to admit he cut a rather impressive figure.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us,” he said, bowing slightly to the audience. “Before we discuss the attack on Esfandia itself, I think a little bit of history will help everyone here to understand properly the reasons we chose this particular target.”

Rey shifted on her seat to get more comfortable. In another life, Hux could have been a teacher, she thought with a smirk, though the contents of his impromptu conference quickly took her smile away.

She discovered that Snoke had a gift for attracting all kinds of weird characters that could be defined as "mad scientists". Or rather, devoid of any ethics and who did not see any problem with vivisection or tinkering with their ~~victims~~ patients' DNA.

One goal of their researches was the artificial augmentation of the human being's abilities to turn them into super-soldiers from birth. Since they had been denied access to embryos so to work from the first steps of cellular life, they had had to settle for operating on more or less consenting adults. If the physical results were interesting, the mental health of their guinea pigs was less than satisfying.

On a side note, Phasma had agreed to be subjected to that process. Such news would not be to reassure Finn, who knew that his former captain would consider him as a prioritary target.

Esfandia hosted the largest of the research facilities Snoke had created. The blueprints of the place clearly demonstrated it was huge and a bit of a maze. The laboratory on Zaddja looked tiny by comparison.

“Apart from a few volunteers,” Hux was saying, “most of the test subjects were picked from the First Order’s prisons, or the brigs of our Star Destroyers, without knowledge nor authorization from the officers commanding them. Some people considered as ‘unwanted’ or ‘harboring traitorous thoughts’ were culled as well from our crews and administration.”

The audience began muttering quietly at that.

“We cannot save them,” Hux added grimly. “According to our agent on Esfandia, the procedures used on them left them braindead. At that’s for the lucky ones.”

The muttering turned into outraged shouts, but the noise was promptly shut down. Hux turned towards Adama.

“We’ll be using an old trick, but it still works like a charm”, she said. “A commando will infiltrate the base under the guise of maintenance technicians and create enough chaos that the soldiers manning the place are more intent on chatching them than watching for our fleet.”

“So,” one of the Imperials asked, “the ships will be there to destroy the compound, but what if Snoke manages to escape the attack? It will be a wild chase all across the First Order’s territory.”

“That’s where Master Skywalker and Miss Antilles will step in,” Adama replied with a tight smile. “They are, after all, our resident experts on the Force.”

There were some chuckles here and there, and from her seat, Rey could see Thrawn’s eyes lit up in what could be labelled as amusement.

“Furthermore, it is possible that Kylo Ren has turned against his master, and as he is currently on Esfandia, he may bring some help. Questions?”

“It is agreed that we will not engage the Resistance ships after the battle is done,” a woman from the First Order said, “but what if one of _them_ try and engage us?”

“I selected the pilots for this run myself,” Statura replied firmly, “and I made sure that they all share my opinions on this operation. However, should one of them disobey the orders, we will take care of it.”

“This being settled, let’s have a closer look at our target,” Adama went on.

Esfandia was a mostly oceanic planet with some islands scattered here and there and a climate spanning from mild to very cold. The facility itself was partially underwater with only the landing pads and some storage areas above sea level. Rey would have found it fascinating, under other circumstances. Thankfully there were not too many storms during the current season. She did not want to get sick all over her travelling companions, for one.

The meeting lasted another thirty minutes before the audience began to leave the room, each group going back to their own ships to order and dispatch their men. Thrawn left first after shaking hands with the other commanders and for once, he seemed perfectly sincere when he wished them good luck. Yes, even to Hux. Then he promptly disappeared with Sloane in tow.

Then Adama and Statura were eyeing each other, and Hux felt something akin to dread crawl up his spine. He was not sure whether the galaxy could survive an alliance between these two. He was almost relieved when Statura nodded curtly and turned to leave. Rey used the opportunity to say her goodbyes as well; the Admiral had always been kind to her.

“And please be careful,” she added after the traditional wishes of success.

Statura shrugged.

“Organa will probably try and have me hanged when I go back to the Resistance, but she's welcome to do her worst. I did what was needed. No regrets here.”

“I hope you'll be all right, sir,” Rey answered, not quite believing it.

Statura gave her a wan smile before leaving the room for his shuttle.


	16. Last Inspections

Rey and Luke would remain on the _Finalizer_ until they reached the outskirts of the Esfandian system. That would give them ample opportunity to know their teammates better. The members of the commando, being all under forty, only had a vague knowledge of things like the Force and Skywalker’s life, though after being told he had grown in the Outer Rim they became less wary and much more talkative. It was not every day that you could have a chat with a legend, after all, even if in the Order’s lore, said legend was rather tarnished.

Though she was listening to her master’s tales, Rey was not paying as much attention as the others, choosing to keep an eye on the crew instead. So far no one had reacted aggressively to their presence but Snoke could have very well hidden a spy amongst them. Fifty-five thousands crewmen and soldiers on the _Finalizer_ left a lot of opportunities to anyone trying to slip an informant on board. Of course she was not the only one looking for the proverbial odd man (or woman) out. One could even say that the crew had made a specialty of tracking and… expelling unwanted people from their ship (most often by way of an airlock, same as Resistance spies after interrogation, and rapists).

Those were a minority, though, and most of the staff kept to their schedules and usual tasks, such as Thanisson, that Rey did not see much during the trip, busy as he was with the TIE fighters. One particularly zealous Lieutenant, Dopheld Mitaka, had made himself Hux’s shadow, or close enough, since the General’s return on the _Finalizer_ , and Rey understood that the younger man also acted as a secretary for Hux when he was not overlooking the ship’s cannons and the related computers.

Once, the young man looked dead on his feet and Rey promptly handed him a cup of caf which he accepted eagerly.

“Thank you Miss...”

“Rey will do just fine.”

Mitaka bowed slightly and went back to his chair, cradling the warm cup in his hands. He was a bit wary of another Force-user on board, she noticed, but she did not feel too offended. People usually threaded carefully around things they did not know or understand. Or which had hurt them. At least Lt Mitaka remained kind and polite, and never requested a show of her powers, which was more than Rey could have said of most of her acquaintances.

Hux had noticed their interaction and once Rey had left to train with her master, he took Mitaka apart to clarify some points.

“I see you are getting familiar with Miss Antilles. Her powers are not a problem, then, I assume?”

“No sir, absolutely not. She barely shows them, so it’s almost as if she were… like the rest of us.”

Hux nearly smirked at that. He had not told his aide that he was himself Force-sensitive, and he would rather keep it that way. Not that he mistrusted the younger man, but he did not want to damage the almost friendly relationship they shared.

“Master Ren, however..."

“Are you still afraid of him?” Hux wondered.

Mitaka shook his head. “No, sir. Not anymore. He's much more... tolerable now. It’s just that I’m not so eager to see him on a daily basis.”

Hux raised an eyebrow and the younger man let out an embarrassed laugh.

“Excellent. Since Miss Antilles will join us for this operation, it's a good thing to be more at ease around Force-users,” Brynden told him.

He smirked when Mitaka turned an interesting shade of bright red… That would be entertaining, he thought.

* *

Hux had insisted to join the team that would infiltrate the laboratory. Not only would his knowledge of codes and systems make their task easier, but he had assigned himself a parallel mission that only Rey knew about. And on top of that, he wanted to avenge his men… and himself, if he was completely honest.

They had managed to find an uniform that fitted him ; the cap and protective glasses would disguise his appearance even more. Unlike the rest of the costume, the glasses belonged to Hux. Many technicians wore this kind of visual help after they damaged their sight on computers screens in the shade of corridors and control rooms, and found it less annoying than contacts, or less invasive than laser surgery. It softened strangely the General’s severe features.

Hux cast a quick look at his reflection. Without his trademark red hair, he was - almost - the guy next door. Shame he could not disguise his height, though.

“Strange. I’m parading as a technician and I’ve never felt more like myself. You’ll forgive me if I destroy more valuable supplies that really needed, right?” he told Pava, as they both put the finishing touches to their alter-egos.

Jessika could not help smirking at that.

“Oh believe me, I can understand perfectly, General. And I'm sure we'll _both_ enjoy this way too much.”

“Probably,” Hux admitted.

They both left the locker room and joined the rest of the team. Rey stared at him with a smile.

“I like the glasses. They make you look like a teacher.”

“I thought you served as a sniper, Sir,” Mitaka pointed out.

“Still do,” Hux replied. “The glasses are not for correcting my vision, it's just that I spend a lot of time reading bright screens in dimly-lit rooms.”

“Oh... Right… You don’t use them on the bridge, of course.”

They all picked their packs and followed Hux to one of the hangars where their transport was waiting for them. Before they got on board, Hux received one last transmission from Admiral Sloane and activated his comlink.

“Admiral?”

“Our ships are ready. We will make the jump as soon as we receive your signal, and the destroyers from Nirauan will follow right behind us.”

“Good. Hoping that Statura won’t stab us in the back as soon as he can...” Hux groaned.

“Our fleets would annihilate his, and he knows it. He won’t try anything funny,” Sloane predicted.

“And if he does, we have enough credits to give all the bounty hunters from here to Corellia a wish to bring us his head,” Hux completed. “Though I must admit I’m rather fond of the man. Well, I’d rather go, now. Wouldn’t want to be late.”

“Be careful not to jam their signal too early,” Sloane reminded Hux. “We'll need some minutes to infiltrate their systems after you have implanted the tracker.”

“Understood.”

“Good luck to you, then. Try and get back in one piece.”

“As you say, Admiral.”

He cut the communication and hastened his pace to join his team in the hangar. Adama had gotten them the most basic shuttle she could find, except that it had been equipped with a particularly powerful hyperdrive, in case a hasty retreat was needed. Better safe than sorry seemed to be the Admiral's motto, just as she had done some years prior with the new design of the TIE fighters.

There was more than enough room aboard to host the dozen that would lead the way to Esfandia. Skywalker looked… odd without his long brown cloak. He had trimmed his beard and done a technician uniform like the others, Rey included, and their respective weapons were hidden among the tools they carried in their bags.

 _It should work_ , Hux thought. _It has to work. Snoke can’t be left free to rule the galaxy as he pleases. That creature is a cancer._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little delay for this chapter, but my previous computer "died" on me after ten years of loyal services, and I lost my last updates... :(  
> RIP Methanol (2007-2017)


	17. the Commando

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More than 1000 hits... Thank you so much for reading :)

The shuttle reached the orbital defenses of Esfandia eight hours after leaving the Finalizer and Rey eyed them with apprehension. They were more than enough to destroy their little ship and probably corvettes too, maybe inflict serious damage to starships like the Mon Cal cruisers or the First Order destroyers. Nothing happened to them, however, and the control on the planet surface accepted the codes and identifications they gave, directing them to a landing pad near the entrance of the base.

Said landing pad and the nineteen identical floating areas that surrounded the main access to the facility were the only emerging part of what seemed to be one huge iceberg. There was a droid waiting for them, which Rey thought a bit ‘light’ until Hux told her it was a modified version of the classic assassin droid used by the Empire.

After telling their pilot to remain on stand-by, the group disembarked and handed their manifest and identifications to the droid, which read them very thoroughly before giving them back and gesturing them to follow it to the main lift. They obeyed without a word, trying not to observe everything around them too obviously.

_“Now,”_ Hux sent to Rey, _“I know how the rebel commandos felt when they arrived on Scarif.”_

_“Scarif? What happened there?”_

_“They stole the plans of the First Death Star. Funny thing, I was born on that day.”_

_“And whose poor soul did you receive at birth?”_

_“The jury is still debating.”_

They promptly stopped their chat when Luke cast a warning glance at them. If Snoke was still there, he could easily catch their exchange and the whole mission would stop even before it had really begun. It would have been perhaps easier to take one of the ysalamiri, but the blank area they generated in the Force would have been akin to a target painted on the team’s collective back. Then the lift reached their destination and they became the busy technicians they were supposed to be.

Their cards and identities were controlled no less than four times before they reached the laboratory. Rey had been worried at first that something would go awry, but had to admit that trying to infiltrate your own facilities was a relatively easy stunt to pull. It was probably not the first time in the galactic History that someone attempted this, but it was still uncommon enough that even Snoke might have not thought about it. If anything, he had probably imagined that Hux would use heavy artillery fire from orbit, should he ever revolt against his master.

That did not mean everything went smoothly, though.

The 3D plan of the base had given them a good idea of its size, but it had not been enough to completely comprehend its size. The explosives they had brought with them would not destroy everything in one go. Sabotaging the fusion reactor was looking more and more like the best option.

“We should split the team,” Luke advised.“If Snoke finds out there are Force-sensitives here, it would be smarter, I think, to keep Rey and I separated. We don’t want to make his work too easy, do we?”

“You take the explosives,” Hux decided, “and I’ll deal with the alarms and communications. Rey?”

“I’m with you.”

After short wishes for good luck, Luke and half the group left, Hux leading his own team towards the opposite side of the base.

“According to the map, the closest maintenance access for comms is this way,” he muttered. “We’ll implant the hacker in the system, then send a message to the fleet. We’ll give then ten minutes to siphon as much as they can of the databank, then we cut the communications, so the base cannot call for help. And if they do… Thrawn’s ships should join the fun less than eight minutes after the Finalizer.”

Rey nodded nervously as Hux sent two men to take care of the hacking device they would latch onto the main base network, and two others back to a higher level so they could relay their signal; it would not have reached their shuttle through the water, given how deep they were currently. That only left him and Rey to sabotage the communication lines.

They had almost reached the maintenance hatch they needed to access the hardware when Rey sensed a Force-user approaching. She warned Hux and quickly took her lightsaber from her bag.

“Where is he?” the General whispered.

“Close, and getting closer. He’s partially masked, though.”

Brynden swore between clenched teeth.

“Hux,” a voice whispered on his right, causing him to stop sharply, sending Rey bumping into him.

He had not seen Ben for more than six months and was not pleased by what he found. The knight looked thinner than he remembered and there were dark circles under his eyes. Nonetheless, he seemed more alert than ever.

“Hello, Ren,” Hux replied just as softly, holding out a hand to Kylo.

The younger man clasped his forearm in a firm grip, a gesture Hux returned with a warm smile. Rey found it oddly touching. Whatever existed between them, it was not faked, she realized. The relief at seeing each other and the affection they felt were almost tangible enough through the Force to prop up a door with them.

When Ren saw her, he just gave a minute bow, without anger nor suspicion behind it, which was a relief. As he straightened, she noticed something unfamiliar hanging from his belt.

“Another lightsaber?” she asked, almost shyly.

“The previous one was too damaged to be repaired. It’s just as well, this one is most certainly an improvement.”

His new blade was orange, the color of sunset. Not quite the usual green or blue of Jedi weapons, but not the aggressive red produced by artificial crystals either. Rey decided she liked it. It was rather original. She hid a smile when Ren looked alternatively from his blade to Hux’s hair before shaking his head, as the General rolled his eyes.

“And did you complete yours?” Ren asked then, every inch the teacher he had offered to be.

“Here.”

Kylo looked at her weapon with an approving smile, like an elder brother proud of his younger sister's achievements.

“Excellent. Unusual for a Light-sider, but since you are used to fighting with a staff...”

“Yeah. I feel more at ease than with a shorter hilt,” Rey agreed.

She shrugged.

“Well... since no one knows about them anymore, it's safe to use that weapon, I suppose. I won't be labeled 'Dark Side' on sight.”

Both men exchanged an amused glance above her head.

“Since the two of you were going to sabotage something, go ahead”, Kylo advised. “I’ll be… patrolling and no one will bother you. But still, do it quickly. Snoke is currently busy with Jacin Ren, but I’m not sure it will be enough to prevent him from detecting you.”

It was high time they proceeded, as the first part of the team signaled they had inserted the hacker.

“Skywalker?” Hux called through an encrypted comlink “Your turn now. Create a nice diversion.”

“My pleasure,” the Jedi assured.

Soon after that, they heard the distant echo of an explosion.

“My uncle does love destroying Imperial bases,” Kylo noted with a smirk as the alarm klaxons started ringing all over the place.

“Keep an eye on the guards, Ren. The fleet should be there within five minutes at most, and we must hold here for ten more before cutting everything.”

“Understood.”

“Rey, you’re the best mechanics here, can you give me a hand?” Hux asked.

“Coming.”

Unscrewing a trapdoor, they accessed a maze of lines and switches set between two insulated walls. Even though they were both rather slim, they barely fit into that narrow space.

“We could try and cut some minor lines,” Rey suggested, pointing to several thin wires. “It would disturb the base a bit more without preventing the fleet from hacking into their database.”

“Agreed.”

They began to work in silence, Kylo guarding them. Hux felt the whole experience quite soothing, a bit like meditation. He lowered his eyes, looking at his hands twisting the wires. He had done the same for his father's shuttle, causing a short-circuit close to the fuel tank. So easy... Hux shook his head and resumed his task. He would daydream later. When Snoke was dead and buried, for instance.

* *

Far from Esfandia, Leia Organa was trying to find why and where the few remaining ships the Resistance owned had gone. The communications had been cut as soon as their little fleet had left the system, led by Admiral Statura. The operators still present planetside were working on it, but the localization of the ships eluded them for now.

Until a message was received through Holonet.

Due to the distance, the image was a bit grainy but the sound, however, remained clear.

“Princess Organa, this message is a simple but fair warning that most of your fleet has joined us in a common effort to destroy Snoke and his newest invention,” Grand Admiral Thrawn announced. “Your men will be free to go once the battle has ended but it would be wise not to send them against us too soon. Or ever, for that matter.”

“Couldn't that bastard stay dead?” she seethed, glaring at the holoprojection.

Despite the audio being set at the minimum on her side, the Grand Admiral had probably heard that, as the tiniest smirk appeared on his face. Organa's disquiet only grew when she noticed Admiral Sloane standing slightly behind her colleague. Most of her surviving enemies, old and new, seemed to have joined forces... The remains of the Resistance, her Resistance, would not hold long against so much firepower, even more if a part of the fleet had deserted to join the Imperials, and General Organa did not have skilled assassins at her service on the enemy ships, this time.


	18. Friendly Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was hell.  
> And I'm still not satisfied with it.

Hux nudged Rey’s shoulder with the tip of his boot.

“We’re done here. Thrawn is getting the data. I set a little bit of detonite with an eight-minute timer. That should be enough.”

“So? Snoke, now?”

He nodded.

“Ask Ren about the best way to do it. I’ll try and break some things here and there.”

“Good luck,” she said, watching him disappear through the hatch.

She waited until she could not hear his voice anymore before going out, so she would not intrude on a personal moment between him and Kylo. When she finally emerged, Hux had left and Kylo remained standing in the corridor with a forlorn expression on his face. He turned to her and said with a fake smile:

“So? Ready to meet with Snoke? I have to warn you, he’s ugly as hell.”

“You should have met my boss on Jakku. Anything else I need to know?”

“Sonkar Ren was replaced by Damat, and unfortunately, she’s Force-sensitive, almost to our level. So if we have to fight her, be extremely careful.”

The warning proved extremely useful less than ten minutes later, when they crossed paths with the newest addition to the Knights of Ren. Without Kylo’s comment, Rey would have been hard-pressed to say her new opponent was a woman, as her thick robes hid every detail of her form. The voice was the only indication as Damat Ren hissed,

“Traitor; is this how you repay the Supreme Leader of his generosity?” to Kylo, who was clearly not impressed.

He activated his weapon with Rey barely a second behind him. Damat’s blade was, unsurprisingly, red, and the woman used it with a certain dexterity, for someone who had been training for barely three months. The narrow corridor did not allow Rey and Kylo to fight side by side easily so the young woman was forced to step back, leaving her cousin to deal with his former teammate. It did not last long, a storm of furious blows, sending Damat’s saber crashing against the wall. Kylo would have pressed his advantage but the other Knight raised her hands and a barrage of blue lightening suddenly illuminated the two fighters, the sparks that ricocheted on the floor grates and the ceiling causing Rey to retreat to avoid burns.

Kylo staggered, hit by the electric arcs, and lost his footing. As he went down, Damat summoned her saber again and was about to cut his head off when Rey leaped in front of her, her blade cutting the other’s hilt in two.

The resulting explosion sent both women to the ground. It took a while for the smoke to dissipate and Rey slowly rose to one knee, coughing and waving her hand to clear the air a bit. She heard a pained groan behind her and turned to see Kylo getting to his feet as well, still shaken by the encounter.

“What was _that_?” the young woman breathed.

“Force lightening,” Ben coughed, his voice hoarse and his whole body shaking from the aftereffects of the electricity. “Kriff... I really hate that stuff...”

“Not the first time?” Rey asked.

“Nope,” her cousin groaned, slowly stretching his sore muscles. “Where is Damat Ren?”

“Over there, it seems,” Rey replied, pointing to a body lying on the floor some meters away.

Rey went to the body, knelt and looked for the opening mechanism of the mask. Almost immediately she wished she had not taken that piece of armor off, as she discovered the face of a girl barely older than her, a thin filet of blood trickling from a nostril and the large dark eyes wide open and glassy.

She startled when Kylo took her by the elbow.

“There’s nothing you can do. We should leave and find Rhalma, if Damat did not kill her first.”

“Another fellow Knight?”

“Indeed. One I helped polish her skills. Sarcastic but has her good moments.”

They found Rhalma several corridors away, apparently rushing to her master’s help. She skittered to a halt when she saw them and her shoulders slightly sagged in relief.

“Oh, you’re alive. Good.”

Under the hood, Rhalma Ren was a young, green-skinned Twi'leck with a lopsided smile and large brown eyes. She bowed before Kylo, her lekkus swinging against her back, then turned towards Rey.

“And very pleased to meet you as well, sister.”

Rey bowed awkwardly. She was going to reply when the ground shook under their feet and the sound of a distant explosion reached them.

“Hux’s fireworks, I’d say,” Ren muttered.

“So your ginger is still alive?” Rhalma said with a smirk. “Good. Since he’s busy, why don’t we do a bit of damage as well, and see who’s better at it?”

“Is Snoke still in his room?” Kylo asked. 

“Did not move even after the first alarm rang. Jacin left, however, and I don’t know where he is. Always been good at shielding, that coward.”

They walked in silence for a moment, before Rhalma pointed to a corridor on their left.

_“Force-user coming this way.”_

_“Skywalker.”_

_“Truly? I’m honored to meet him.”_

They crossed Luke’s path minutes later. He had left his own group to deactivate as many defense systems as possible, but had just received a message from their shuttle, signaling the start of a battle above Esfandia between Snoke’s ship and the allied fleet.

“It’s high time we took Snoke out of the equation,” Luke said. “I’ll go with Kylo and Rey. Could you find my troopers and see them out safely, Knight Rhalma?”

In moments like these, it was not so difficult to remember that Luke Skywalker had been a commander before turning into a rather eccentric hermit. Rhalma nodded and with a last bow to Rey and Kylo, promptly disappeared out of view.

* *

Far above the base, the space between Esfandia and its satellite was slashed by sudden flashes of red and blue light, more often than not followed by massive explosions. The Star Destroyer _Serenity_ had a lot in common with the _Executor_ , Thrawn thought resentfully: a very tempting target, but equipped with extremely strong shields. Sometimes he really wished he had spent more time discussing with that particular species of little grey Outsiders that had perfected teleportation into an art. Sending some of his most powerful explosives onto the hull of that monstrosity would be easy, then. Thank the Maker for the Mon Cal cruisers, at least. The _Chimaera_ would have been lost already without the two battleships pounding the _Serenit_ y.

“Their shields are weaker around the engines exhaust,” Sloane noticed, “so the heat can evacuate easily...”

“So if we sent a probe droid this way, and guided it towards the shield generator...” Thrawn mused. “Major Baran,” he called his chief engineer, “do you have some probes to spare?”

“Yes sir. Five of them, and I can probably find others.”

“Equip them with detonite bombs or anything you have in store powerful enough to blow the shield generators, and send them out.”

“Immediately.” 

“And let’s hope it will work...”

* *

Rey and Kylo felt as if they had been walking for hours, when it had only been minutes since they had left Rhalma.

“He’s close,” the Knight muttered. “The closer we get, the stronger the illusions. You should be careful,” he added for Rey’s benefit. “He will make you see things that don’t exist, to make you lose focus.”

“Noted.”

“So completely different from Palpatine,” Luke commented. “The old bastard loved needling his captives until they snapped and did something stupid.”

They caught sight of a massive metal door at the end of the corridor, but could not detect guards. Ren, however, sensed an anomaly in the Force, coming from behind them.

“Jacin,” he said.

“I will deal with him,” Luke offered. “Snoke is yours. Go!”

As they headed towards the door, he turned and calmly walk into the dark corridor.

_I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me, and there is no fear on my path. Only me, and the Force._

* *

The thick metal doors did not resist much, if at all. They opened as in invitation.

“If it’s not the walls or Snoke,” Kylo whispered, “it’s most likely not real.”

“Understood.”

They walked in complete silence, as if the material around them absorbed the sounds from the outside. You could ignore there was fighting all over the base, standing in that long, drafty room. Snoke was, of course, waiting for them, sitting on the stone throne he seemed to like so much.

_His wounds are not hidden. He wants us to believe him weak, to underestimate him until it’s too late._

As they approached, the ancient being slowly raised a hand.

“Welcome, children. It took you a long time to join us, Rey of Jakku.”

“Who said anything about joining you?” Rey retorted.

“It is, you will discover, the only way to master your powers, my dear. I have experience far beyond your dreams.”

Kylo did his best not to laugh aloud at the… poor formulation of that sentence. Then he observed his former master. No apparent weapon, but the old bastard had never needed that. His strength was of the mind.

Though he had warned Rey about the illusions, when it happened it took him by surprise.

One moment he had been standing before Snoke, and the second after he was on the landing platform at the entrance of the base. The battle had ended shortly before his arrival and bodies were still lying on the duracrete, some sporting a single blaster burn, others torn apart by explosives. Snoke’s soldiers, so akin to Krennic’s Death troopers, were forcing prisoners to their knees, shooting them in the head one by one. Kylo spotted Hux’s red hair a second before the laser bolt turned the back of his skull to ashes.

“It’s not real,” he muttered. “Nothing but the walls, Rey, and Snoke. And me.”

This had _not_ been a vision. It would not happen. Never. Somewhere on his left, he heard the girl whimper in horror. 

“It’s not real,” he repeated, louder. “Whatever you see, it’s not r -” 

“Silence.”

A sharp spike of pain went through his brain and he fell onto the floor, dropping his saber to grip at his head, feeling as if the bones of his skull were going to explode from the pressure. Flashes of bright colors crossed his vision as he desperately tried not to black out.

“Stop it!”

Rey’s voice rang sharply against the metal walls.

“You presume to give me orders, child? How naive you are...” Snoke sighed. “I had great expectations for your cousin here, once, but I suspect you will make a much more talented apprentice. He’s weak. You almost killed him on Starkiller. Finish what you started, and take his place as a reward.”

“And then, what will I become?”

“You will receive power beyond your imagination, child. No one will ever be able to treat you as a slave.”

“Except you,” Rey pointed out.

Snoke had reported all his attention on Rey, momentarily forgetting Ren for some seconds. Just long enough for the Knight to get up and swing his weapon in a wide arc that caught Snoke on his right side, severing his arm and biting deeply between his ribs. The ancient creature half-turned towards Ren before another savage blow sliced his neck, sending his head rolling on the throne steps.

Ren blinked several times, as if to clear his vision. Was it true? Was Snoke really dead? It seemed almost too easy and Kylo waited for the other shoe to drop. He just felt... empty.

Snoke looked strangely small now, crumpled on himself like a puppet missing its strings. For a brief moment, Ren wondered how he could have been afraid of such a creature. He kicked the corpse lightly to make it slip from the steps onto the floor then turned towards Rey.

“It's done. It's hard to believe, eh?” he said with a tired smile.

Rey was too exhausted to even answer. She slowly got up to her feet, her head still ringing and together, they left the room, clinging to each other and limping low. Looking at them, one would have had a hard time believing they had won the fight.

“Let’s leave that place,” she said. “Else the shuttle will take off without us.”

He nodded, too tired to speak more, and they both headed towards the doors, leaving Snoke’s remains behind them.

They walked at a much slower pace, retracing their path through the corridors towards the nearest lift. Rey was still shaking from their encounter with the former Sith Lord Plagueis, and Kylo had a hard time focusing on his surroundings.

Rey suddenly stopped.

“Where is Luke?”

“I’m afraid your master is unavailable for the time being,” a voice sniggered behind her. “Or to the end of time, for that matter.”

She almost jumped out of her skin, and turned around, facing Jacin Ren.

“You thought you could escape me so easily, First Knight?” he purred. “And you brought me another pet to play with. That’s very kind of you. Is your red-haired friend here? I have missed him so much.”

Rey felt Kylo trembling with rage under her fingers.

“Stop it, you idiot,” she yelled at Jacin. “Snoke is dead! You think he would have let us go if he was still alive?”

“Does it matter?” Jacin replied in a nearly sing-song voice. “I would have killed him anyway, you just made my life much easier.”

He had barely finished that sentence when he activated his blade and brought it down in a wide arc that almost took Rey’s left arm. Tired as she was, she parried as best as she could, Kylo trying to divert Jacin’s attention, but the man seemed to have another pair of arms, so quickly he blocked all their attacks. A slash from his red saber singed the sleeve of Kylo’s robes and ten seconds after, Rey felt the skin of her arm blister as she barely avoided another cut.

* *

On a walkway above the three fighters, the dim light revealed the long muzzle of a sniper rifle being set on the guardrail. There was no way Hux would have gone to this mission without his trademark weapon and the special gift he had intended either for Snoke or Jacin Ren.

And it was high time he interfered. Whatever Snoke had done to Rey and Kylo, his two Force-users were too exhausted to resist Jacin Ren for long. Rey was desperately trying to keep him at bay while Kylo limped towards them, the red weapon having burnt him right above the knee.

_Don't move, don't move..._

He did not know whether she had heard him, but since Jacin Ren was finally showing him his back, he pressed the trigger. The Knight tensed and stood straight for a minute or so, before clawing at his back, howling in distress as he lost his connection to the Force. Hux smirked when Kylo’s saber decapitated the other man. They had both been waiting for this for a very long time.

Rey caught a glance of orange hair far above them and smiled. She signaled Hux they would go to the lifts and join him on the landing pad. He nodded and promptly left his perch.

* *

The explosions and the damage caused by Luke’s troopers had set a large portion of the base into a right chaos. Several scientists were trying to salvage a part of their experiments and the two Force-users let them go; they would get caught either by the Resistance or Imperial ships later. They cut down every soldier who crossed path with them, however. The safety of their team before everything else. All the while, they both tried to reach Luke, searching for the calm, soothing light that had been Skywalker in the Force, but came back empty-handed. His presence had vanished entirely.

“He’s really gone, then,” Rey whispered, still not completely grasping the full meaning of it.

It was too much to take in. The old man had become a part of her life, he was her father’s friend, he… She felt Kylo’s large hand on her shoulder for a moment.

“Jacin didn’t lie. I’m sorry.”

“He was your uncle as well.”

“Too much blood between us,” Kylo muttered; then, changing the topic: “Is the shuttle still here and in one piece?”

“Looks like it. The troopers are reembarking.”

“We’d better hurry.”

 _And we will discuss Luke and Snoke in detail when we’re somewhere safer, cousin_ , Rey thought. _You owe me that, at least._

* *

They boarded the shuttle not a second too soon; the pilot was getting nervous and wanted nothing more than to leave before the orbital bombing that the Imperial destroyers had just announced. Hux was waiting for them on the ramp, his rifle in hand, more disheveled than ever and grinning like a madman.

“Come on! Let’s go!”

Kylo let himself sag against the bulkhead as the shuttle took off and the first missiles fell on the base. But as he soon discovered, they were not out of the black hole. The battle between Thrawn’s fleet and Snoke’s ships was not done yet, though the later were clearly losing the fight. Even the huge _Serenity_ had suffered too much damage to stand much longer.

That was not the opinion of her captain, though. Hux startled when the star destroyer, deprived of her shields, suddenly redirected power to her reactors and gained speed, going straight for the nearest enemy ship.

His stomach in knots, he watched as the _Serenity_ rush at the _Finalizer._ Without thinking, he ran to the viewport, his fists hitting the thick transparasteel.

_Get out, get out, get out! To the pods, Maker, leave the ship! Please!_

The viewport darkened to absorb the sudden flash of blinding light that illuminated the space on port, but it only allowed Hux to see the superstructures of his ship breaking under the weight and speed of the Serenity, smaller explosions breaking the hull apart before both ships disappeared in another giant ball of burning gases and molten metal.

Hux closed his eyes, his forehead resting against the cold surface. They were gone.. They were all gone.

The commandos gave him a wide berth and none mocked him for mourning the loss of his ship, his _home_ for more than four years, and his crew.

* *

The shuttle landed in one of the hangars of the _Chimaera_ minutes later, the commandos disembarking while technicians rushed to check the ship and repair whatever damages it had suffered. The soldiers and crew were directed to the medbay for a complete check-up, and Rey followed them, tugging Kylo by the sleeve of his robes. She had to lead him through the chaos on the ship, between injured soldiers lying on stretchers, droids rolling toward circuits or sections of hull to repair... He looked as if someone had just clubbed him hard on the head.

Hux was right behind them and as they entered the medbay, a medical droid instructed them to wait for a medic, pointing to a bench.

For some minutes the three of them remained like this, huddled in a corner, Hux holding the other two against his chest, Ben clutching at Hux's coat and Rey gripping both men's arms as if her life depended on it. Then the warmth receded and Rey found herself alone with Ben, barely catching a glimpse of the former General as he disappeared in the barely-lit corridor.

“Tage?” Ben moaned, his hand searching for Hux’s.

“He’s fine,” Rey said in a soothing voice. “He’s fine.”

* *

The Resistance destroyers that had participated to the fray had taken some severe hits but still managed to go back home without delay, Statura wondering how exactly he would avoid a trial and execution for his crew. He had clearly exposed the situation and none of them had refused to go…

He was not so surprised when he was greeted by a ‘welcoming’ party of twelve soldiers pointing their blasters at his head.

Finn, stunned, watched the squad drag Admiral Statura to the detention block. The pilots and the rest of the staff were just as dumbfounded as he was.

While Statura was locked up for treason, Jessika Pava had managed to slip away unnoticed. Her job there was done.

* *

The _Chimaera_ had just left Esfandia and was returning to Nirauan, escorted by a First Order ship. Thrawn was standing on the bridge, pondering all the work he still had to complete.

They had won, no doubt. Snoke was dead along with his last loyal Knight and Rhalma Ren would be serving with the Empire of the Hand. They could negotiate with the First Order, create a united fleet…

“Do you think it will be enough... for when the Outsiders come?” Sloane asked, her hand resting lightly on his.

“I hope so. We cannot do much more, I am afraid.”

The slight tremor she felt under her fingers clearly proved it was not a figure of speech.


	19. No Such Thing like Home

Rey and Kylo were allowed to leave the _Chimaera_ as soon as the ship exited hyperspace. The young woman would have liked to take a good look at Nirauan but the sooner she came back to the Resistance, as Sloane had pointed out, the less she risked being labeled a traitor.

The former Knight did not say much during the trip, gazing instead at the luminous lines the stars projected against the transparasteel of the cockpit. Rey left him alone; on top of Snoke’s death, the destruction of the _Finalizer_ and probably most of her crew had been a huge blow to his already shaken mind. She had sensed the raw terror from the people seeing the other ship driving closer and closer, the overwhelming grief coming from Hux… He would never be a good man, or at least, never align with the Light only, but the intensity of his feelings was something fierce. He and Kylo were well-matched on that regard.

They landed in the middle of what looked like a storm combined with the birth of a black hole. The base was in complete chaos, which helped Rey and her passenger slip tot he medbay almost unnoticed.

Doctor Kalonia certainly did _not_ coo when the young woman entered her domain, thank you very much. She locked the door behind Rey and Kylo, and rushed to examine both of them.

“I’m fine, I promise,” Rey assured. “Just a bit tired. Ben, however...”

“Well,” Kalonia said, pursing her lips, “this young man here certainly needs my expertise... If you may excuse me, my dear, I have a lot of work ahead. Mr Ben, if you could... I'd like a blood sample before I begin.”

“Of course,” Ren replied, docilely holding his arm out.

“Thank you, dear.”

Rey watched them as Kalonia retrieved the sample she needed. Ren seemed... off. He could barely put two words together now. Why would his condition worsen when Snoke was dead and incinerated? Had the bastard taken so much of Ren’s independence that he could not even think on his own anymore? She also admired the fact that the medic had immediately set to work rather than ask questions and wonder how Ben Organa, whom she had known well during his childhood and adolescence, could be alive and not so well, and wearing the robes of a Knight of Ren. _Professional to the very tips of her fingers..._

Rey silently retreated and left the medbay.

On her way towards what passed for a dining hall she was suddenly hugged without warning by someone who, after she had stomped on their foot and slapped their arms away, revealed themselves as Finn.

“Hey! Wow… I’m not Captain Phasma!” he exclaimed, hopping on his uninjured foot.

“Ah… sorry about that,” she stammered. “Still a bit tense after the battle.”

“Which battle? Wait a minute… you were on Esfandia with Statura?”

“Yeah. You could say that. I was planetside, though.”

“They say Snoke is dead,” he said in a questioning tone.

“He is. Kylo Ren killed him, along with the other Force-sensitive Knight, and I got another. The Rens are gone for good, it seems.”

“And you got Kylo Ren, then?”

“I brought him back. I did not kill him.” _And now the shit is going to hit the fan…_

“Why??”

He could not have looked more shocked if she had announced she wanted to make a living as a stripper in the most disreputable cantina in the Outer Rim.

“He had Snoke in his head since before his birth. Thought it could be interesting to see the real guy for once.”

“They should kill him now, before he wakes,” was Finn's only advice regarding the former Knight, which earned him a disgusted look from Rey.

“Is shooting First Order employees your only solution to every single problem in the galaxy?” she snapped back. “You're lucky no one here thought the same about you.”

She was too angry to discuss anything at the moment, so she left him in the middle of the corridor and headed to the nearest workshop. Dismantling something would help with her nerves, and not to think too much about the Dark Side. Poe could deal with Finn. _Your boyfriend, your job, pilot._

* *

Ren woke on the following afternoon feeling and looking much better. He was not as dizzy and disoriented as before, and a quick trip to the refresher adjacent to the medbay took care of the remaining grim, both physically and mentally. He knew they were on a Resistance base: he would have recognized Doctor Kalonia even with a blindfold. It meant he would have to face his mother very soon. He should make the best out of the time he still had.

The time in question, according to the chronometer on the wall, was exactly two hours, thirteen minutes and five seconds.

Then General Leia Organa entered the medbay and things quickly went from embarrassing to bad, to worse. It began when she greeted him with “Hello Ben”, in the same voice she had used when he was a child, and then a teenager at his uncle’s academy.

He sighed.

“Mother.”

He expected her to get angry and to scream at him, to brand him as a kinslayer… he wanted her to do it, so they could start with a clean slate, not as mother and son, but a prisoner facing the enemy. That should have been simple, more than wishing he could have run away with Hux and been on the other side of the galaxy. But he would not even get that animosity he craved. His mother was looking at him with pity.

The day after, they left the base for the Core worlds. Ren did not protest, knowing it would be useless and he still felt too tired and sore after his fights against Snoke and Jacin, anyway. He would have given an arm to – no, awful idea. Skywalker males were far too prone to losing limbs as it was, no need to make careless wishes.

* *

The transport landed not in a public spatioport, but on a private platform at the top of a building. Ren had the time to see a seemingly endless city where clouds drifted along some streets before he was ushered inside by a pair of guards. As he stepped into a dimly lit corridor, he felt a prick in the back of his neck and cried out in fear as he felt his connection to the Force vanish, leaving him blind and tumbling in the dark.

“We cannot take that risk,” his mother’s voice was saying, somewhere above his head.

How could she have grown taller than him? Oh, he must have fallen on the floor, then… His cheeks turned an ugly red with the humiliation he was experiencing.

“Crippling me for my own good, Mother?” he spat as he clumsily got back on his feet. “Nothing has changed a single bit, it seems.”

Without replying, she signaled the guards to go on and Ren was forced to follow them, stumbling along the corridor until they reached a lift. Then another corridor and the door to a room. The locked clicked shut behind him once the soldiers had pushed him inside.

* *

The room he had been given was certainly not a cell, though perhaps he would have preferred that. He had committed crimes; he did not want any special treatment because of a relative he had disowned a long time ago. Yet he had a comfortable bed with thick blankets, a refresher, a table and two chairs, and even two potted plants. No window, though, and a door that could be locked only from the outside.

He had holobooks, at least, to keep him busy, though they were not the kind he favored. He loved History most of all and the majority of his little library contained novels that he deemed hardly worth their reading support. But he would read them nonetheless. It was either that or going mad from idleness, and meditating only worked so far. He wished there was even one small window in his room so he could watch what happened in the streets below; a pencil and some scraps of paper to draw on would be nice too. Since he was stuck in something that looked very similar to his childhood bedroom, he could play the ‘kid’ part as much as he wished, right?

His mother seemed convinced that, by keeping him in what used to be a familiar environment, he would revert back to the boy he had been, the past fifteen years not counting. He had the suspicion that his mother was living in her own parallel world and had been doing so for quite a while. Probably since his father’s death.

* *

The first talk with Leia occurred two days after the beginning of his incarceration. She greeted him with a soft smile and a kind voice, while the young man itched for a fight. Even more so when she broached the topic of his father.

“I did not lose any sleep over his death, if that's what you wish to know. It's remarkably easy to kill someone who abandoned you,” he growled.

That was a lie. It had not been so easy to do the deed, though afterwards he had not suffered from any nightmare about it. Probably because he had not gotten any time to do so, between his injuries, his recovery, his new responsibilities as Adama's second in command...

“You father did not -”

“He was ‘home’ two months a year at best, never in a row, and left each time someone did or said something that did not sit well with him. He spent more time with his bloody Wookie than with you. How do you want to call that, exactly? Not to mention all his comments about your ‘crazy family’ each time the Force was just alluded to in a discussion. You two were so different, what gave you the idea that you should get married?”

“You were on the way,” Leia simply said.

Ben blinked several times and it took him a moment to find his voice again.

“Ever considered other options?” he asked. “I wonder how sex-ed was like on Alderaan, seriously,” he added, the words dripping with sarcasm.

That finally got him the slap he was looking for. If nothing else worked, poking fun at her homeworld was the surest way to rile his mother up. The blow did not really hurt, though. She was too small and frail to manage that.

“Leave,” he said, not bothering to soothe his stinging cheek. “Go back to your political debates and your laws, as you always did.”

“I want my son back,” she pleaded.

This time he lost his composure.

“When are you going to understand that the Ben Solo you think you remember is just a picture, a creation of the mind? He never existed. Snoke had been in my head since day one! Before that, even! What I am is what you get, there is nothing else. There has never been anything else since I first grew a functioning brain.”

She left him after that, though he knew she would come back until he relented, or pretended to. Stubbornness was a trait that came from both his parents, after all. Ren was not sure he would be able to explain what he had perceived as rejection when he had been a child, to try and make her _understand_ , perhaps.

It had hurt to watch his parents, who were always too busy for anything, take the time to praise and coo over other children. Normal children. Poe Dameron had only been the most blatant example. Rey could have been one too, if she had not been Force-sensitive. Luke was the only Force-user Han Solo had been able to tolerate; had he found out the girl was one of them, he would have probably kicked her out of the Falcon as soon as possible. At least none of those strays were visiting. He had made very clear what would happen to Poe should the pilot ever try to set foot in the room. He did not need to Force to break the man’s bones. Leia would scoff at that, as if Ren was still a little boy who would soon admit that her decisions were the best for him.

* *

She came back some days later, with several books on Alderaanian culture, suggesting that some reading about his people would do him a lot of good.

"But they are not _my_ people", Ben objected. "I have nothing in common with them. They live in the past. They cling to the most antiquated believes. And they demanded special rules tailored just for them, exoneration for the crimes they committed because, you must understand, they lost their world. Well, kriff that! You had no problem using the Noghri as ruthlessly as your father, even though they had lost their homeworld as well, and they were destroyed as a result. It's all right as long as you are not the one suffering from such a disaster."

She pursed her lips in distaste.

"You would do well not to compare me to that man", she warned.

"Or what? You'll ground me? I'm already locked up there. Seriously, put me in a real jail, that would be more honest. I have every right to compare you to Vader because you act just like him. You had prisoners tortured, you provided your Hosnian friends with the means to attack Arkanis, you manipulated the emotions of your fellow senators to get what you wished and you crushed those who disagreed with your vision of the Galaxy. But unlike him, I can't even say you did that for love. Or perhaps it was the love of power."

The door slammed behind her as she left the room. He did not see her for almost a week after that and he found that his rations had been cut by a quarter. Instead of making him angry, it just prompted a smirk. If his mother thought he would be brought to heel by things that had never worked when he was a child…

Speaking of love and feelings, however, had reminded him of his continued loneliness, and the fact he had not received any news from Hux. He knew the man had escaped after the battle over Esfandia, and hoped he had managed to find his way back to Imperial territory and his old mentor Sloane, or to his mother’s family, perhaps. Ren had no means to contact them to check, however, and would have to wait until he could get access to the Holonet to use the numbers Hux had given him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An idea regarding the Last Jedi, inspired by Empire's End :  
> Rey was raised/created by the scientists of Project Harvester and trained as a potential Knight of Ren, until Snoke managed to get full control of Ben Organa and decided he did not need the girl any more. He gave orders to get rid of her but someone in the staff took her to Jakku for protection: given that everything was destroyed during the battle, it's the last place in the galaxy where Snoke could look for the kid. Bonus if it was Hux taking care of Rey, that would add another dimension to his constant quarrel with Kylo Ren.


	20. Breaking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't kill me... yet.

Two weeks went by this way, Organa being her son’s only visitor. Despite not being a psymedic, Rey knew that keeping Ben so isolated was not going to help. The man would grow more resentful with each passing day and even though the ysalamiri hidden in the ventilation ducts of his room prevented him from using the Force, he was still strong enough to break someone’s neck with his bare hands. She would have liked to visit him, but she knew she was threading on thin ice. The simple fact she had been in contact with the Imperial Remnant had somehow contaminated her and she had not even mentioned speaking to Sloane and worse, Thrawn. She had heard enough of Organa's opinion on both officers to know that it would be an _extremely_ poor idea. Still, she wondered if their paths would cross again one day.

Fortunately, she was not the only one to think about a medical approach to Ben’s problems. General Organa brought a specialized medic to her son’s room, hoping for some clues about the young man’s thoughts and plans.

Curiously, given the fiasco that the first attempt during his childhood had been, Ren liked talking with the psymedic. The fact that she was neither human nor old enough to be his mother certainly helped. Cereans were fine. He could even discuss his father's death without receiving shocked or disgusted looks. This one took the ‘no judgment’ part of her job very seriously.

“Your mother seems convinced that you hesitated before killing Mr Solo,” the medic stated during one of their sessions.

“Yes, I was... reading his mind, so to speak,” he said. “I wanted to know if he had come to me on his own or if... my mother had somehow roped him into it. She did, by the way. And right before she sent him on that mission, she admitted she had known about Snoke since the very beginning and she had done. Nothing. About it.”

“Would you say you would rather have killed her?” the medic asked.

“If she had been standing there instead of him, then yes, I would have,” Ren answered honestly.“Now, however... it would be just a waste of time. I don't care about what happens to her anymore. She dropped me for her precious Republic, and now the Republic is crumbling. That's more than enough.”

He did not see the medic again after that. Since she had taken an oath of confidentiality, he supposed their sessions had been somehow monitored. So he began talking to the ceiling, the only place he could not reach physically to look for any recording device. Mocking the decision to lock him up with an ysalamir somewhere in the air ducts, and those who took said decision for being afraid of one man while their destruction was coming to their doorstep... From his mental discussions with Hux, he knew the man had used a hypothetical relationship to set Organa off, so he followed his lead and (almost) waxed lyrical about their time together and the wonderfully sinful things they did together (not even in dreams).

It worked like a charm ans for the first time in years, the young man genuinely laughed.

* *

Ren was not the only one behind bars. Admiral Statura had been jailed and was now facing charges of high treason for his participation to the battle of Esfandia.

A trial would be held within the week, but Poe and Finn did not quite trust the judges to dispense an impartial sentence. They could, however, help Statura get out of jail. Once you had pulled that stunt on a star destroyer, it looked remarkably easy. And they had time to plan their rescue operation, rather than improvise it in a minute or so. After that, of course, it would be impossible to remain anywhere near Organa, but they lived in a huge galaxy, after all.

They both got their hands on guards’ uniforms, added a helmet for good measure and watched the prison schedule for two days before they went in as soldiers tasked by General Organa to come and fetch the former Admiral for one last interview and attempt at getting a confession out of him. The guards standing watch at the door promptly obeyed and dragged Statura out of his cell, while Poe thanked the Maker that the Resistance used much less paperwork than the First Order or the now defunct Republic. He vaguely acknowledged the guards’ comments about traitors finally receiving what they deserved and quickly marched Statura out of the detention block. He had to give the man credit, his expression did not change even minutely when he recognized his keepers. He remained silent, his head bowed, walking in a straight line until they exited the area and rather than going to the officers’ section of the base, turned in another corridor that would lead them to the hangars. No one really paid them any mind. After the numerous attacks they had suffered from the First Order, the remaining staff was just too overworked to stop them and ask what they were doing.

“I hope you two don’t plan on staying here,” was Statura’s only comment while Poe looked for a ship still able to fly in hyperspace.

“ ‘course not,” Finn assured him.

“We’ll be going with you for a while, and then we’ll go our separate ways. Poe, are you done?”

“Yeah. I think this one is fine. Get settled in and start the engines. I’m picking BB-8, my X-wing is just over there.”

“Hurry up, man! The guards will realize we scammed them soon!”

It took less than three minutes to Poe to come back with his little droid. It was high time he did; as they climbed into the shuttle Poe had selected, an alarm began to ring across the base.

“Faster, please! Before they close all the hangars!”

Poe tried not to roll his eyes at Finn. This one was still panicking a little bit too easily. He did not reply as he started the engines and directed the ship towards the gates. The massive doors started to close less than a minute after the shuttle emerged on the tarmac. Perhaps Finn had been right to worry, after all. Poe cut the communicator as the control ordered them to stand by and demanded their flight designation. No time to waste for inspiration, and ‘Rogue One’ was already taken. No need to add sacrilege to defection.

* *

Ben had been locked up for nearly a month when his mother came to his room to announce him rather proudly that Armitage Hux had been found and killed on some backwater world in the Outer Rim, his ship reduced to ashes and molten steel with him still inside. The young man, being cut from the Force as he was, refused to react, comment or believe anything she had to say. If she thought she could break him with false news…

A part of his mind was nonetheless panicking at the idea that his mother could be telling the truth and that he had lost the firmest anchor for his sanity, and a man he had grown to value and love, even from across a galaxy.

He needed to know, and he had only one person he could trust with such a request. Rey was not allowed to visit him very often, but she agreed as soon as he finished asking.

She tentatively reached out to the former General, since she knew his Force-signature so well, and came back empty-handed.

The effect was catastrophic. Any improvement Ben had shown during the past weeks brutally came undone. He would not speak, would not eat, would not let anyone touch him except Rey. After two weeks of this relapse, he was back to looking like a bag of bones, huddled in a corner of his room. He reacted only for Rey and it was not just a trick to get the others to leave him alone, this time. She truly seemed to be the only one who could reach him. This generated some tension between her and Leia. There was certainly jealousy and misunderstanding, for a start.

At least it gave the younger woman an opportunity to spend more time with her cousin to try and coax him out of his shell, which was easier said than done, in spite of the truce the two had formed. No matter the distance between them, Hux had become the centre of Ben’s balance, had brought him peace and confidence where Snoke had only provided hurt and self-loathing. Losing him meant they would lose Ben as well, one way or the other, and Rey was suddenly very grateful that Ben’s room did not have any window.

* *

Far from the family drama, some celebrated the supposed death of 'General Starkiller', but most had not the time nor the mind for such pleasantries. Refugees from the Hosnian system were still trying to find a place to stay, Resistance pilots and technicians were looking for a job… Someone had to step in and organize everything from distributing rations to paying the staff… Admiral Ackbar set to the task, though he was truly getting too old for it, in his own opinion. He had lost so many of his fellow officers that he often spent the whole night in his office, trying to make something of the chaos they had inherited.

And the logistics were not the only problem.

The remains of the Republic were looking for some of the "traitors" who had escaped, Admiral Statura among them. Rey suspected, resourceful as he was, that he had found a way to contact his First Order counterpart Adama so that she would grant him sanctuary. Judging from their interactions before the attack on Esfandia, she would probably accept. Rey could only hope that Poe and Finn had managed to find themselves a nice little planet to settle on for a while, preferably with a lot of trees, not too much rain and a lake or a sea nearby.


	21. Ghosts of Coruscant

About two weeks after the supposed death of General Armitage Hux, Leia Organa and her small retinue left their base in the Core for the former capitol planet Coruscant. As the leader of the Resistance, Organa was required to attend the new session of the Senate, if one could still call that a formal session. Of the New Republic, nothing remained but a skeleton Senate clinging to a power that existed only in the Core Worlds – and not even all of them. The rest had broken with the regime. Some laws were still voted, though no one really applied them.  


She realized now how truly alone she was. Her husband and her brother were dead, her only child had turned away from her and the girl she wished she could adopt only showed a growing mistrust. As for her supporters and officers... There were more deserters than ever. Even Dameron, whom she had considered as a son, had left with his partner and Statura. She could feel despair creeping in her mind at night. Had she really fought for nothing?

* *

Ben was not under house arrest any more, his mother considering that after Hux’s death he would not try to run, for he would have nowhere to go. He had been given a room in Leia’s lodgings on Coruscant, this time with large windows, and spent most of his days watching life going on outside, or reading. Sleep rarely came at nights, full of dark and bloody dreams as if he was back under Snoke’s thumb. The ancient creature would be laughing his head off if he could see his former apprentice now.  


The thought did nothing to lighten Ben’s mood, no more than the landscape on the other side of the reinforced glass panel on his window.  
He remembered the few times his family had spent some months in the former capital of the galactic government, though he had been too young at that time to truly notice anything in detail. The buildings looked grand enough from afar, half-hidden by the fog, their tops lost somewhere above the clouds, but a closer look revealed that many needed intensive repairs and a lot of apartments had been deserted a long time ago, mostly because they had belonged to the families of Imperial officers who had fled the planet after the Alliance’s victory. Coruscant felt like a ghost city. The rain that drizzled almost constantly over the place now that the satellites controlling the atmosphere were either destroyed or obsolete did nothing to improve the global mood either.  


Yet as he looked over an almost empty plazza from his room, Ben was getting a sense of familiarity from this place. Something that made his skin tingle.  


He was not watched as closely as he had been before, now that his mother was sure Hux would not come and fetch him, and the ysalamiri had been taken out of the ventilation system, so Ben was able to leave their apartment and go outside, as long as he avoided being detected by the guards. Truth be told, even without his powers it would have been ridiculously easy, as the security had grown rather lax.  


He quickly crossed the huge plazza during a lull and found himself standing before the doors of a museum of some sort… His memory provided some details: he was at the location of the old Jedi Temple of Coruscant, which had been destroyed after the Purge. The New Republic had built a kind of memorial on the ruins, filled with holos and the sparse data regarding Jedis that had been salvaged from the Imperial archives – those that had not been stolen by Snoke. Now the place was forgotten and empty and sad. But there was still a spark of life inside.  


The old library was almost deserted when he entered. Several shelves had been emptied and Ben hoped it had not been by thieves but rather by people who cared for the value of knowledge. He sat on a chair, idly toying with a datacard, not knowing exactly where to begin, or even what to do. He felt empty. Lost. As if his heart had stopped when his mother had announced Hux's... death. A part of him still refused to believe it. There were so many things they still had to do together...  


He heard the rustle of clothes behind him and turned very slowly, a sort of shiver along his back warning him of a Force-user nearby. Very slowly, he turned on his seat.  


He found himself facing a rather old Pau'an, tall and dignified in dark grey robes, a long staff held in his right hand. Ben soon realized that the man used it for more than just decorum. His eyes were... a mess. Old scar tissue around the orbits, the sclera turned a sickly pinkish red and the pupils wide and unseeing... Another damaged creature.  


“It has been a long time since a fellow Force-sensitive entered this place,” the Pau'an said in a deep, slow voice. “Welcome to my domain. What remains of it, at least.”  


Ben wanted to speak, but the words could not get out. A strangled sound escaped his lips and the librarian frowned.  


“Can you not speak, child? Or won't you?”  


“Ah... I... it doesn't want...”  


Ben's throat seemed to close off again and he hung his head down in shame. A long, bony hand touched his shoulder lightly.  


“It is all right, child. We'll do it the other way. _Can you hear me?_ ”  


When he sensed the Force touch his mind again, felt someone talk to him through it after all those weeks of silence, Ben was overwhelmed.  


_“Yes! Yes, I can. Thank you.”_  


_“Tell me, hatchling, why are you here?”_  


_“The hatchling is nearly thirty-two,”_ Ben finally objected with a half-smile.  


_“I'm over a hundred and forty. I can call you whatever I want,”_ the old librarian retorted with a smirk. _“Now, as to your presence here...”_  


Ben relented and answered. It was never wise to make an old Force-user wait, and even if this one's aura was far from dark, there was still a touch of it.  


_“I needed a quiet place for a while. One of my friends died, or so say the rumors,”_ the young man explained, staring at his hands. _“He did a... very dangerous job, had to take a lot of difficult decisions and... in the end, they did not give a damn and they shot him down. That's what I was told, at least, and I'm not sure whether I can believe it. But I can't feel him anymore so I suppose it's true.”_  


_“Doesn't he have other means to hid from the Force?”_  


Ben smiled thinly.  


_“Of course. But when have I ever been so lucky? They seemed so sure about it that I did not consider the other option,”_ he mused, his temper coming back after weeks and weeks of complete despondency. _“I was too sick to think of anything else at that time. Maybe I should try and find him. If he wants me. But before that... I must escape the so-called safety of my family. Does that make me a monster again?”_  


_“Something in-between, I'd rather say,”_ the Pau'an replied. _“Nor light nor dark, a mix of the two. It takes time to find a balance between day and night, I'll grant you that. However, it has been working just fine for me. Leave this place and your ghosts to rest, young man. Go find your friend if he still lives.”_  


_“And what about you?”_  


_“Don't worry. Who would want to harm an old man like me?”_

* *

Two days later, the Organa household was in disarray after the disappearance of the General's son. He had left early in the morning, seemingly heading for the derelict library facing the ruins of the Jedi temple, and had not come back. When Leia had gone to said library and asked the person in charge if he had seen her son, the old Pau'an had turned his blind gaze towards her and smirked.  


“ _Seen_ , my lady?”  


They had not been able to make him say another word.  


Rey's departure was relatively easy after that. Under the pretense of looking for Ben, she left Coruscant, made a jump to the nearest hub, abandoned her ship and took a seat on a shuttle for the Outer Rim. It was supposed to be a trading ship only, but the crew added a little benefit to each trip by selling tickets to passengers. One had to be quite impoverished or desperate to pick such a transport, but Rey needed discretion above everything so she kept her mouth shut as she spent the following week curled up in a rather cramped spot behind the cargo hold, called a bed by the captain and nothing more, in truth, than an over-dignified rat's nest. She dropped on Palahni, went to the nearest comm center and spent some of her credits to contact the comlink number Hux had given her months ago.  


She waited for what felt like the longest minutes in her life. If the Kryzes did not answer, she would have nowhere to go, save perhaps getting a job in Lando's mining firm. She did not dare contact her mother's family. They did not know her, she could not even prove she was really Freya's daughter. And she had no idea where her father could be, as the Federalists had sent him on another mission somewhere in the Rim.  


At last the green light appeared on her console.  


“Darina Kryze speaking. Who’s calling?”  


“Hello… My name is Rehani Antilles. I got your number from your… cousin, I think. Brynden Hux.”  


Darina nodded slowly.  


“Ah. I see. What do you need from us, young lady?”  


At least it was not a straight ‘no’.  


“I… just left the Republic territory and I would… need a place to stay, but not permanently, just until I managed to contact my father or his associate, and then I would leave and join them. I can work as a mechanics,” she quickly added.  


She heard the other woman humming on her side of the com.  


“I know what you did for Brynden,” Darina said after a minute of silence or so. “We are in you debt, Miss Antilles. Feel free to join us whenever you wish. I’ll send you the coordinates of our current whereabouts.”  


“Thank you. Thank you so much!”  


She heard a laugh from her comlink.  


“I also know that you are Force-sensitive. Some of my people are… less than receptive to sentients like you. Old history and all that. So, if you could...”  


"Don't worry, I'll tone it down", Rey promised. "And I'm used to living without it anyway."  


The older woman chuckled reassuringly.  


“Then everything should be fine, dear.”

* *

It took Rey four more days to reach the clan. Darina Kryze met her in the hangar where her small transport landed, paid the pilot and watched him go while Rey quickly shouldered her bags, ready to follow the woman into the ship.  


“Well, let’s hope this one can keep his mouth shut. I don’t particularly fancy a chat with Organa about harboring fugitives, even distant cousins.”  


“Brynden doesn’t have close relatives, even there?” Rey wondered.  


"His mother was an only child, and so was his grandmother. She had cousins, though, so he can call them 'Uncle' or 'Aunt'. But, as you are going to find out, we have a huge tribe of more distant relatives here," Darina said with a smile.  


'Tribe' was an apt description, as Rey discovered soon. The little fleet harbored several hundreds of people, and among them sixty-three were more or less directly related to Brynden Hux. His being an only child was almost an anomaly in this extended family.  


She realized that each vessel belonged to one family. They stored their supplies and lived on board, getting planetside for trading only, and the inside of those ships was radically different from the smooth, almost clinical corridors of the cruisers she had known, full of colors and micro-gardens growing in communal spaces. They were also in much better shape and cleaner than the _Falcon_. She thought she was going to really like this place.  


Then she turned towards Darina.  


“Is he all right?” she asked, dreading the answer.  


“As fine as one can be without their partner,” Darina replied, “but yes. He lives, he’s in good health, and I’m sure he will be very happy to see you again.”


	22. From the Other Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little transition chapter

Faking your own death was an art, one that even Thrawn would approve of. In Brynden Hux’s case it had involved a shuttle and a remote-controlled circuit allowing him to guide it from the ground. The Resistance pilots had been certain he was on board when they had destroyed the small ship. Not doubt they must have been very pleased with themselves. He had felt more than a pinch of guilt when he had realized that the first thing Organa would do when she learned about his ‘death’ would be to tell Kylo, but it could not be helped. He had to disappear. His last batch of inhibitors helped, as it prevented anyone using the Force from locating him precisely or contacting him. That would also leave Rey in the dark, but he had decided that what she did not know could not hurt her, in that particular occurrence, and no one could accuse her of being his accomplice. 

Once he had wished to become emperor... then he had come to understand that it would mostly mean painting another target on his back, something he did not need since the destruction of the Hosnian system. He would have enough work as it was without dealing with a bunch of prancing courtiers. Thrawn had actually smiled when Hux had mentioned it, and for once there had been some warmth in it. The man had dealt with enough incompetent sycophants in his time to understand the sentiment. His own stronghold did not host courtiers, and was only more efficient for it.  


Now he was content with reuniting with his family, his twin daughters included, and some of the precious few friends he had made along the years. He was particularly pleased to see Rey again, and grateful she did not crack his ribs hugging him, rather opting for a firm handshake and a little peck on the cheek. 

“Well done,” she said. “They are all convinced you are well and truly dead. Even Ben…”

“I know, and I will have to apologize as soon as he arrives here. Do you know when he left Coruscant?”

“Two days before I did, but given how recognizable he is, I suppose he must have taken some detours rather than reaching the Kryzes directly.”

“Let’s hope so.”

* * 

While Hux reconnected with the rest of his family and progressively found a place within the complex network of traders and pilots that gravitated around Clan Cryze, Rey put her skills as a mechanics to use and soon got a stable job on the ship, which in turn granted her quarters of her own.  


Life on board was of course less comfortable than what you could have planetside, though compared to Jakku or the Resistance where you were almost constantly on the run, not to mention the cold wet stones of Ahch-to, Rey's small quarters looked like a luxury suite.  


Rey smiled when, as she moved her things into her room, she noticed a tiny potted fern on her desk. She had once mentioned the flowers she had tried to grow in her AT-AT back on Jakku and apparently, Hux had remembered that. Perhaps, with enough water, she could develop a green thumb. _That_ would be a change.  


Unamo had sent Millicent back to her owner, much to the twins' delight. The lothcat was very pleased with the attention she received from the children, as if it was her due. In that little head of hers, it was probably the case, Hux mused. He had more concerning thoughts than Millie’s antics, however, some regarding Ben and others regarding his numerous relatives.  


He had been lucky his mother had mentioned him to her family, and said family had accepted him without conditions. After all, Natia had just been picked to bear a child because she was young, had the right hair colour and the official Lady Hux was barren. She could have been a kitchen servant or even a prostitute, as long as Brendol Hux got his precious heir.  


Hux now used his mother's name for all his public appearances. That would not fool the remains of Organa's army for long but what could they do against him? They had lost most of their fighters, they had no backup and Clan Kryze alone had more staff than the dying Resistance. Organa was their last acting leader, as old age and illness had finally caught up with Admiral Ackbar, forcing him to retire on Mon Cala for a well-deserved rest. Like many of his peers and predecessors, Hux held a grudging respect for the Admiral, and he was not displeased to know that Ackbar was back home and safe.  


That only left Leia Organa.

“Are you going to put a bounty on her head?” Rey wondered.

“I won't. Her agreement, if only silent, to the attack on Arkanis earned her many enemies who will be very happy to do the job for free. That's the good thing with amateurs: their techniques may be lacking, but you cannot tempt them away with more money.”

Rey shivered at that. Just with Arkanis, Organa had made dozens of new enemies.

* * 

They did not broach that topic again, as both of them were busy reorganizing their life. Rey was working with the technical team in charge of the ship maintenance on a daily basis now, while Hux had been roped into operating trading partnerships and negotiations, something that he had already experienced as a General. 

Rey could honestly say she loved her new way of living. She almost felt as in a dream. She had always liked to imagine what she would do if she had enough money to buy her own things. First clothes, then a bag, then some accessories for her hair... and after that, something completely superfluous (at least from the perspective of a scavenger) like a book or new painting supplies. And plants. A lot of potted plants everywhere in her house. Preferably ones you could eat. And even a whole garden, with flowers and trees. And maybe a pond with some little fishes. 

She learned some basics about horticulture in the hydroponics gardens on board and since the maintenance did not take much time, she could spend hours talking with the chief gardener about how much water which plant would need, and how much fertilizer, and what kind of pests could attack them… It was a whole new world in itself, and she gladly set to explore it in detail. 

Her new routine was interrupted sooner than she had expected. About ten days after her arrival, a small, one-person transport docked into the ship’s main hangar, the pilot fitting Ben’s description except for the ‘skinny’ appearance mentioned by the controllers. 

Rey ran to the hangar and, as the Force had confirmed about two minutes before she reached him, it was indeed her cousin. Or at least, someone who had his face and body. The bright fire he had been seemed reduced to a tiny spark, even worse than when the news of Hux’s ‘death’ had reached them. 

He did not notice her presence, simply requesting a place where he could sleep, and should anyone have questions for him, he would be available to answer them.


	23. Mind Healers

He had not stolen the _Falcon_ , of course. Chewbacca would hunt him to the end of the galaxy and beyond if he did, and the Wookie would not shoot him in the side, this time. A bit disproportionate for a piece of junk that would probably not run for more than another decade before falling apart. That was the kind of inheritance he could do without, and a perfect symbol of the 'old guard' who had survived the Alliance.

Instead Ben had used his powers to ‘convince’ a clerk in a ship rental agency to let him go with one of his transports. He had not gone beyond the limits of the Core with it, leaving it with a message to the poor clerk so he could come and get the little ship back. After that he had taken a seat in a shuttle for the colonies, made a withdrawal from a First Order account he had almost never used in all his years of service (in fact he had completely emptied it) and used part of the money to buy another small transport, erasing his face from the sales assistant’s memory. After that he had hopped from one system to another, constantly checking for Republican soldiers going after him. 

Ben had managed to fly the ship from the nearest spatioport and send a message to the com number Hux had given him, but as soon as he had set foot on the clan's transport, he had locked himself in his given room, unable to deal with so many foreign presences at once.

Even Rey was not accepted. He only let someone come in to bring in some food, that came back at least half untouched. 

She was afraid at first that the careful work they had begun with Ren had completely unraveled after Snoke had been ripped from the young man's mind. However after some days she felt more hopeful: the former Knight was still hesitant, his thoughts sometimes chaotic, but Ren was truly himself, in possession of both mind and body. Now he only needed some incentive to take better care of himself, and regain some of his past confidence, though Rey knew she was not the best person for that. Hux looked ready to send all precaution to hell and speak with Ren, anyway.

* *

When he asked his cousin about Ren, wondering if the other man had finally cracked under too much stress, Darina shook her head.

“I think he's sane enough. But he is afraid of losing control again so he shut himself up in his room.”

Hux pinched the bridge of his nose.

“That boy and his drama...” he sighed. “I’ll visit him now, though I’m not sure he managed to sense I was here.”

“Only one way to find out,” Darina said, always the optimistic.

She went to Ren’s door and knocked twice before he invited her in.

“Are you up for a visitor, dear?” Darina asked.

Ben looked up, his eyes still a bit glassy from the lack of sleep.

“Just one?” he mumbled.

“Just one,” the woman assured with a smile.

“Yes,” he replied before lowering his head again.

Darina closed the door behind her and turned towards Brynden, who was patiently waiting in the corridor.

“You can go,” she said, patting him on the shoulder. "But don't rush things."

He nodded and reopened the door, stepping into the room. 

It was almost as bare and impersonal as the Knight's quarters on the _Finalizer_ , with some obvious differences such as the notable absence of Vader's helmet or Ren's infamous pile of ashes. Still, there were some warmer touches here and there: a colourful coverlet on the bed, a hand-made rug on the floor... probably brought there by Darina or one of her children. Ben had taken care of those items, which remained spotless and free of dust, though he had failed to take care of himself. Hux suspected the younger man had not seen a refresher for some days; he had also lost his signature bulk, the muscles gone, the skin turned a sickly pallor. Suddenly Hux wanted to bring Snoke back from the dead just so he could kill the old bastard again. He smothered that surge of violence before Ben could sense it and walked slowly towards the bed.

“Ben... can you look at me, please?”

The other man slowly raised his head and blinked several times, not quite believing his own eyes. 

“Hux?”

“My good self, yes.”

“Can I… can you come here?

“Of course.”

As soon as he was within reach, Ben reached and touch the fabric of his jacket. Careful to avoid any sudden movement, Hux sat on the edge of the bed. 

“You're real... You're here...”

The younger man kept repeating it like a mantra, his hands brushing against Brynden's chest as if to make sure he was not hallucinating.

“I could not sense you for a while,” Ben went on. “I knew about the inhibitors but... they were all so certain of your death...”

Hux closed his arms tight around Ben's shoulders, letting the other man rest against him, the wavy dark hair tickling his nose. He had missed that closeness, the physical contact and the trust the former Knight put in him.

He could almost count Kylo's ribs through his shirt. He could also feel the other man's depression surrounding him like a thick fog, though he was not trained enough to use his own abilities to try and dissipate it.

He would have to use more traditional methods to ensure his partner's health improved. That would involve picking his favourite foods (Hux knew enough about that), spending a lot of time with Ren, talking to him if only to make him feel safe... The younger man was shaking against his chest now, and Hux began to rock him slightly. The last time anyone had done that for him, he might have been seven, and it had not been one of his parents. It still burnt him like acid that the two people that had shown him the most understanding in his life, in a non-romantic way, were complete strangers, not blood relations. His father's hypocrisy was the worst, all his preaching about family when he only wanted an heir, never a child. He had received kindness from Rae (even in an oblique way)... and Skywalker of all people. _Yes Father, I'm mourning the enemy, and I'm not ashamed about it._

“Hux?” Ren mumbled.

“Shh... it's nothing. Do you want to sleep for a while, or something to eat with me?”

“May I have some tea, please?” Ren asked in a reedy voice. “Not sure I could take more.”

“Of course. Can I leave you for a minute to go and prepare it?”

Ren nodded and Hux rose from the bed, walking to his cousins’ kitchen with quick strides, not willing to leave Ren all by himself for too long. He put two spoonfuls of honey in the cup to make sure the younger man received some nutriments. Ren drank his tea so fast one could have sworn it had vanished from the mug. 

“Will you stay?” he asked, gripping the mug tightly. 

“I have no reason to go,” Hux promised. “My children are safe, you are here and I have no bounty hunters running after me.”

“I’d take care of them for you,” Ren promised. 

“I’m sure,” Hux chuckled, “but for that you need to put on some weight and exercise again. Else I’m pretty sure I would be able to defeat you in our next sparing session.”

His only answer was a groan, but he knew he had needled Ren just enough to make him act on his advice. 

Of course, he would help at every step on the way to full recovery. 

Fortunately, nor Darina nor anyone else seemed to question his dedication to Ren. 

* *

Hux felt immensely relieved that his family, close and distant, accepted the former Knight, and the relationship they were trying to build. The twins had been wary of Ren when they had first met him, but soon began to seek him out after observing his interactions with their father and Rey. 

Remembering Ben from her time on the _Finalizer_ , Millie had elected him as her new sleeping mat. The young man did not object to her decision and received the full "kneading-purring" treatment every morning and evening afterward. That seemed to convince most people on board that Ben was indeed safe and could be allowed to roam the passageways unsupervised. 

In return, it gave Hux a bit more time to attend his daily tasks, though he was not as busy (read: over-worked) as he had been while serving the First Order. He had fewer contacts with the Empire of the Hand now but he supposed it was for the best. No news from their side of the galaxy meant things were still safe. Both Thrawn and Rae Sloane had deserved some rest. Sometimes Hux wondered whether their relationship was strictly professional or not, but he had grown to consider Sloane as a surrogate mother, though a stern and demanding one, and would not theorize too much about it. Better focus on Ren and what kind of relationship they could have in the future. 

To be perfectly honest, Hux wanted to test a _lot_ of things but for now he would just make sure that Ben felt safe and at ease. Enough to leave his room and interact with the rest of the crew, at least, and put some weight back on. 

“Would you try to eat a little something? _I_ am supposed to be the skinny one, remember?” Hux teased lightly.

He got a scoff in reply.

“I'm not _that_ thin, please,” Ren mumbled, then relented. “Fine, though I worry about your cooking skills.”

Hux swatted him lightly on the arm.

“I’ll let you know that during my missions in the Unexplored Regions, I’ve never poisoned any soldier in my team,” he said haughtily.

“Cooking rations is not exactly an accomplishment,” Ren retorted. 

“Well, sorry if I’m not on par with Your Highness’ refined tastes,” Hux snorted, a laugh building in his chest.

“I could… do it, you know,” Ren offered. “I used to enjoy it… when I was a kid. Uncle Lando had some funny recipes, but… well, for once I’ll say my mother was right and that teaching a seven-year-old to make highly alcoholic cocktails was probably not a good idea.”

Hux snickered.

“He made you taste them to be sure you had done them right, I’ll bet.”

Ren nodded, huffing a little laugh of his own. 

* *

Soon after their first experiment (and true to his word, Ren was indeed quite talented at cooking), they were eating all their meals together, which also included the twins. With everyone being Force-sensitive around the table, they all managed to appear perfectly silent while enjoying lengthy conversations, something that amused the girls to no end. 

Their nights, however, were far less pleasant. The two men had taken to share their quarters; it afforded them a bit more space and suppressed the need to come and go in the corridors whenever they wanted to discuss something in person, but it also meant they shared their respective troubles, mental unease included. Ren could not completely let go of all the deeds he had committed for Snoke, not yet. The nightmares, though less frequent, were still plaguing him, and Hux probably faced the same issue, the way Ben found the other man clinging to him in the morning. Physical contact seemed to work nicely to lessen the impact of those night terrors, though, possibly because the former Knight had been deprived of it for years.

At first Hux felt really bad for allowing Ren to behave like a pet, and hated himself for agreeing to that charade as well. But he had to admit it worked better than anything else to reassure the younger man he would not be abandoned again. Furthermore, cuddling in bed every morning or being gently awaken by Ren nuzzling his neck was quite enjoyable. Hux had not done that sort of things for more than a decade with another adult, and though he would have rather faced a firing squad than admit it, he had missed that closeness with another living being.

“Do you still have a batch of your inhibitors?” Ren asked one evening as they shared a late drink in their quarters.

Hux shook his head.

“I got rid of it. It's not like I have to hide my little 'talents' anymore. Why do you ask?” he wondered, curious.

“I was considering taking some,” Ren admitted, avoiding Hux's eyes.

The other man blinked, not expecting this answer. Ren had always been proud of his abilities so why would he suddenly decide to smother them? Had someone badmouthed him for his use and knowledge of the Force?

When Hux voiced his suspicions, Ren denied any problem with the rest of the clan, though.

“But I thought you would be all be safer this way,” he explained. “My powers are a risk for you. So it's better if I keep them silent, don't you think?”

Hux frowned.

“What risk? Snoke is dead, there are no Jedis to dictate your behaviour... You are your own master now; no one can toy with your mind and make you act against your will. You are not a danger to any of us. That phase is over.”

“So... you trust me?”

Hux was briefly torn between the wish to comfort Ren and the urge to slap him. He had done his best to reassure his lover and make him understand that he would never be treated as a freak for his abilities, but the insecurities ran much deeper than the former General had ever imagined, it seemed.

“I have been trusting you with my life, my mental health and my children for months, my dear,” Hux stated firmly. “If this is not enough, I don't know what could be.”

He felt Kylo trembling against him.

“I'm sorry,” the younger man mumbled. “I'm too used to hearing I'm unstable and unreliable, I suppose,” he said with a thin smile. “Keep repeating I'm worthy of your trust, and I'll certainly believe it one day.”

Hux had heard enough ‘weak boy’ and ‘useless runt’ in his childhood and adolescence to understand the feeling, even though to a lesser extent. He gently brushed Kylo's hair out of his face and let the other man settle against him. Soon Ren calmed down and much to Hux's relief, there was no more mention of Force suppressors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The alternate use of 'Ben' and 'Ren' in this chapter is not a typo ;)


	24. Back to Greener Pastures

Once she was certain her cousin had settled amongst the Kryzes and would not relapse any time soon, Rey decided to take the first holidays of her life. Now that she was not on the run anymore, she decided it was high time to check on her father and the rest of her family. After much hesitation, she had gathered enough courage to call Wedge’s number. After three tries and frayed nerves, she finally got an answer, though it was not her father who took the call, but her grandmother Sola Naberrie.  


“Good afternoon, or… whatever time it is on your side. How may I help you?”  


“I’m looking for your son-in-law Wedge Antilles. I’m… I’m his daughter,” Rey replied quickly, not wanting the old lady to get the wrong idea.  


For a while she only heard silence and hoped that her grandmother had not suffered a heart failure.  


“Maker above,” Sola finally whispered. “You have no idea… Wedge has been besides himself for weeks… Come as soon as possible, it will do him a world of good, child. And I would like very much to meet you at last. How long before you can get here?”  


“Er… well, I’d say five or six days, if the transport service is running fine.”  


“Excellent. I’ll prepare a room for you… and try to keep your arrival a secret.”  


“Careful with that,” Rey warned. “Wedge almost had a heart failure the last time someone did that to him.”  


She heard her grandmother snort, before she wished her a safe journey and cut the line.  
Well, she had a travel bag to prepare. 

* *

The Kryzes had let her go without a hitch, hoping she would arrive safely at her family’s home and come back soon. Hux and Ben had said nothing, just given her a pat on the back as if they were two parents proud of watching their little bird fly on her own.  


The flight to Naboo went without incident, except that one time Rey had ‘accidentally’ shoved a guy from his seat because his snoring had kept her awake for a whole night… through the wall of her cabin, no less. She hoped he was not married… At least her insomnia gave her time to think about the near future. Perhaps she would stay wit her family… though she wanted to discover the galaxy too much for that. Not in a permanent way. Keeping her job in the Kryze fleet would be perfect to achieve that. She knew she could live around Ben without the risk of seeing him slip back into his darker persona; Hux would see to it, one way or the other. It was strangely fascinating how a man who had built Starkiller could take care of other human beings as he did. Luke would have called this the ‘banality’ of evil. For one Palpatine, you had plenty of normal people who could tear others apart without even reconsidering their options… Ben – or Kylo Ren – and Hux would never be considered as ‘light’, and even their loved ones admitted the crimes they had both committed. They had chosen their path, regardless of circumstances… But they had also managed to do some good in their life, and even in a selfless way, and it had to count, right? If not, Rey was just as damned as they were. She never talked about it, but on Jakku, she had stolen from other scavengers at times, leading them to starvation so that she could survive. She had killed, once. For a piece of metal scrap that looked in better shape than the rest.  


_As if I needed more depressing thoughts._

* *

After a five-days trip in the crowded transport, Rey wanted nothing more than stretch her legs and walk through high, rustling grass. Thankfully, she got her wish, or close enough, as soon as she landed.  


Naboo was just as Luke had described it: green - even greener than Takodana - lush and welcoming. Once the shuttle had reached the lower atmosphere, Rey could make out lakes and rivers, and the spiderweb-like design of cities. Once out of the spatioport, the streets were a festival of smells and colors that made Rey giddy. She had not much money but decided to sample some of the foods she could spot on the stalls of [itinerant] sellers nonetheless. The meals on the transport had not been particularly tasty. The first thing she tried was a handful of round, white cherries. She almost forgot to spit the stone out... Then she picked little cubes of meat dipped in spiced honey and roasted on a skewer. Some fowl, she thought. Delicious.  


She sampled some fruits and sweets after that, then abandoned her tasting session – for the time being – to search for a transport. The streets were so crowded she had a hard time finding a way to the nearest speeder-taxi station, and then had to wait for one of the vehicles to be available. Apparently, she had arrived during one of the busiest trading days in the capitol. 

* *

The Naberries were living in the country, several hours away from Theed. They owned a large house, a spreading orchard and fields, a little stream marking the limit of their estate.  


Once she had paid her taxi and walked through the open gate to the main door, Rey quickly checked her boots for dust, then her hair, and finally gathered her courage to ring the bell. She heard someone trotting to the door and it was opened by a boy about ten years old, she estimated, who looked at her with wide eyes.  


“Mum!” he shouted. “There's a lady at the door! I opened like Granma said, and the lady looks just like her!”  


Rey heard another set of steps approaching and met the gaze of an older woman, perhaps reaching her forties, whose appearance, black hair and dark blue eyes, showed she was one of the Naberries' in-laws.  


“Good afternoon. I am Malka Naberrie, and I assume you must be Rehani.”  


“Indeed. I hope I do not disturb anything, since I couldn't schedule my arrival exactly, and - “  


“Nah, it's all right. Pick your bag and come in,” Malka said with a smile. “Sola will certainly be very excited to meet you in the flesh.”  


Rey flung her bag on her shoulder and followed Malka inside.  


The house was elegant, she decided, with functional but well-made furniture, an array of pastel colors with some more vibrant touches here and there, and large windows opening on the gardens. It felt like a palace to Rey.  


As they walked, she attracted the attention of several other inhabitants of the house, of an age or slightly younger than the boy who had greeted her at the door.  


“And here we are,” Malka announced. “I'll let you chat with Sola, and keep the little monsters at bay.”  


With a parting smile, she turned on her heels and left Rey to knock on the door.  


“Please do come in,” Sola called from inside.  


Really feeling like a shy little girl for the first time in her life, Rey pushed the door open and entered.  


Sola Naberrie was, if Wedge had not been mistaken, eighty-one, and looked rather intimidating in her long, black robes. She had never quite taken her mourning clothes off since the death of her younger sister. Padme had been quickly followed by her father. Her mother had died when Palpatine had wiped out some of the local notables that might remember him from before his days as a senator, then her husband had vanished during a trip, never to be seen again. Freya had been the last blow. Sola's face had been once round and smiling, though now it looked harsh and weary.  


“Good afternoon, Rey,” the old woman said evenly.  


“Good afternoon, grandmother.”  


“Come sit with me, will you? Do you want some tea?”  


Rey nodded and sat in front of her grandmother somewhat shyly while the old lady poured two cups of a dark, fragrant tea.  


“Honey?” Sola asked.  


“A drop, please.”  


“Here you are, dear. Now, tell me a bit about yourself. I want to know everything.”  


So Rey told her, of course. There was no way you could say 'No' to Sola Naberrie.  


In return, the young woman learned more than she had imagined about the family orchards, the story of her grandaunt Padmé and how she had ruled the planet for eight years, her parents' meeting...  


She shared her grandmother Sola's brown eyes and chestnut hair, traits that had been passed to her three daughters and most of their children. Rey had the grand total of six cousins, four of them being already married with children of their own. She would never feel alone ever again, it seemed.  


“I'll call your father,” Sola decided when Rey was done with her tale. “He's gone to the market with Sabra to sell our products, but I'll make sure he comes back at once!”  


Rey could believe that. Sola seemed to be the kind of woman you obeyed without questions, even when you had been one of the Rebellion's most daring commanders.  


According to Sabra about two hours later, Wedge had never piloted their speeder faster, and she did not wish to repeat the experience, thank you very much.  


“Rey! Maker above, are you all right?”  


She looked up, startled, to find her father standing on the threshold of her room. Apparently, he had never _run_ faster either.  


Wedge looked rather well, given everything that had occurred recently, though he did have more white hair than during their stay with Lando. Rey noticed the dark grey scarf he wore around his neck and knew at once that someone had told him about Luke's death on Esfandia.  


And the way he almost crushed her against his chest as she hugged him, he could not quite believe she was alive and safe.  


“I promised you, not a single scratch,” she told him repeatedly.  


He was checking her for scars nonetheless, she knew.  


“I swear, Dad, I'm fine. What about you?”  


Wedge capitulated at last.  


“I could sleep for a week in a row,” he admitted, “but other than that, I'll live. I had much, much worse when I was younger.”  


Luke had alluded to several accidents and capture, once, but not in detail and Rey had not insisted. She could see by herself the stiffness in her father's right leg or the slight tremors that sometimes shook his shoulders.  


“I'm so sorry about -”  


“I know, sweetling. I know.”  


He rocked her gently as, finally, she allowed herself to cry for her mentor.

* *

The following day was, thankfully, a little less emotional, and the family gathered under one of the massive trees in the back garden for an event Rey had never witnessed before: a picnic. She could understand the appeal of eating outside when said outside was pleasantly sunny without burning you to a crisp, but she had yet to see why it was such a huge thing, even the youngest children being eager to help.  


“What’s the big deal?” she finally asked her father in order to clear up the confusion.  


Wedge chuckled.  


“Nothing special. People just like spending some time together and relaxing after a week of work, tis all.”  


“Well I’m still new at this people thing, you know. So a crash course can be needed,” she deadpanned.  


“I’ll make sure to schedule something,” he promised. “What will you do?” he asked after several minutes of peaceful silence. “Will you stay here, or go back to your job with Clan Kryze?”  


Rey pondered that for a moment.  


“I think I’ll keep the job,” she said. “It gives me plenty of opportunities to travel around the galaxy, meet new people… unless you have an objection, since General Hux would be one of my employers.”  


“Nah,” Wedge replied, shaking his head. “That’s certainly not ideal if you wish to visit the Core worlds, and you will be… tainted by association, but… Of course, sentencing the guy to death would make sure he doesn't do it again, but seems to me that he took that decision all by himself and helped us get rid of Snoke. So what's the point? It won't bring anyone back to life. In the end, it will just add another corpse onto a pile that's far too high already. And make two more orphans, on top of that. And do we consider he’s the only person responsible for Starkiller, or do we include all the engineers, soldiers, technicians and such who survived the destruction of the base? There’s no end to that.”  


“I never took you for a pacifist,” Sola said with a smile, delicately fanning herself.  


“Well, people change. And when I look back to my own tally, I feel no pride. I am a murderer. I just happened to be on the winning side.”  


“That’s not a particularly optimistic view of the world…” Sola sighed. “But rather realistic, I’m afraid. At least we managed to reconnect all the scattered parts of our little pack. Ask Ben to write us from time to time when you see him; I haven’t had a word from him for more than a decade.”  


“I’ll do that,” her granddaughter promised. “Did you have word from Organa?”  


Sola pinched her lips.  


“My niece and I disagreed about several issues, how to raise children being one of them.”  


Rey did not insist.

* *

Very far from Naboo, Leia Organa was standing on a balcony overlooking the representatives of the Core worlds. Considering the almost empty Senate, she had to admit they had lost. The Republic would never be restored to its former glory. Forty years of fighting to confess, at last, that she had been plowing the sea, her dream giving way to a federation of independent systems.  


There were few visitors now in the Senate except for some pilgrims that had shared her vision and wanted to see its remains one last time.  


When she looked up, she noticed another woman standing on the threshold of the box. She looked exhausted, with dark circles under her eyes and hollow cheeks. The poor soul was dressed in mourning clothes and Leia felt a pang of sympathy for her. Though her own son was still alive, she considered him lost and dead. Armitage Hux could keep him or skin him for a pair of boots, for all she cared.  


“Is there anything I can do for you?” Leia asked softly.  


“You have no idea what a mother could do for her child,” the woman said, closing the distance between them.  


There was a strange gleam in her eyes. And another, more metallic, in her right hand...  
The woman walked towards her, as other people in mourning clothes blocked the exit. The parents of the murdered children on Arkanis had finally found her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry...


	25. Normal Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As normal as you can get with Force-ghosts relatives, of course.

Three months after Rey’s trip to Naboo, the Arbites Initiative was gaining power and supporters, building a huge network amongst the planetary systems of the Rim. Now that they did not have to divert resources in a wild klaadu chase all across the galaxy, the First Order was much more efficient in dealing with piracy, slavers, smugglers... depending on the requests of their affiliates.  
Hux had to leave the family ship from time to time in order to hold meetings or negotiations across the Outer Rim, and if Ben had objections against being a bit of a housewife, he never voiced them, having plenty of things to do to keep himself busy.  


The first of them was relearning how to use the Force without being overwhelmed or overreacting to the slightest sensation. Thrawn had unknowingly provided them with the solution to that particular issue. Bless the manipulative bastard for giving them one of his lizards. Once he was, even partially, cut from the Force, Ben did much better: he seemed less worried about what people would say or think about him and far less withdrawn. Hux tried to spend more time with Ben and to make him interact with the rest of the family. The younger man accepted readily, though he remained silent most of the time. It was not a sign of indifference nor hostility. For the time being, he wished to communicate a minimum, though he never missed an opportunity to help or make himself useful. (On a more amusing note, Millicent – after a lot of wary observation and careful approach – had taken quite a liking to the Force-repelling lizard and now spent a lot of time napping with her new friend, the creature apparently not bothered by her attentions in the slightest.)  


Ben liked that wandering life rather well. The trading ship was a warmer place than the _Finalizer_ , in every meaning of the word. He did not spend his nights shivering in his bunk and he knew he could trust the crew so he would not need to constantly glance over his shoulder while he was training or working on a console.  


After another month of ysalamir treatment, and slowly decreasing his exposure each day, Ben was almost back to normal, meaning he was still awkward and a bit shy but he was laughing and joking with the rest of the crew, joined the team for meetings and during his free time, acted like the compulsive bookworm he had always been. Brynden sometimes wondered where he had picked that trait, since none of the other Skywalkers had exhibited it. From the Naberries, perhaps? The younger man was, in particular, a true History geek. He could list dynasties of rulers from thousands of years ago and certainly knew a lot about Force-lore, if the design of his first lightsaber was anything to go by.  


Ren was a rather busy man now, between the training sessions with Hux, the lessons the twins had with him and his actual job within the clan. He enjoyed that feeling of being useful and acknowledged for his good work. Not being alone with his thoughts was a bonus he appreciated more than anyone, save perhaps Hux and Rey, could imagine.

* *

Almost five months had passed since their arrival before Ben approached Hux about their relationship, and its evolution. Hux would have been fine with just sharing a bed and kissing if it meant his partner felt safe and happy, but the younger man had other ideas in mind.  


He wanted to do things rather methodically, step by step, so they could both assure what they liked or not. The first try was to forgo nightclothes.  


The Force-lightening had left oddly patterned scars on Ren's back and shoulders. Hux traced them with light touches, as they were still recent, but the contact did not seem painful for Ren - which did not mean much, given how ridiculously high his pain threshold was.  


“D'you like them?” Ren mumbled, still half-hiding his face from Hux.  


“Not really,” Hux admitted. “I'm just trying to make them feel more... familiar. Right now, they anger me more than anything else.”  


Ren forgot his shyness for a moment, opened his eyes and watched Hux closely. Frowning, his lips pinched, the man looked as displeased as one could be, an expression Ren had often observed while on the bridge of the _Finalizer_.  


“Stop pulling yourself into a twist,” the younger man said. “You had nothing to do with it, you could do nothing to prevent it, so please... stop beating yourself over Snoke and what he did. Can we talk about something else?”  


“Such as?”  


Ren proved to be more curious than he expected.  


“Ever tried with a woman?” the younger man wondered.  


Hux chuckled.  


“Never. I have always been very clear in my preferences.”  


“Many good friends at the Academy?” Ren went on, still tracing lazy patterns on Brynden's back.  


“Not really. I had two one-night stands that I'd rather forget. The prostitutes working around the place were more friendly than those guys. You?”  


Ren scoffed.  


“Please, I was shipped off to my uncle when I was barely ten, and even though Luke was never a firm enforcer of the 'not attachment' rule, some of my co-students were almost zealots, with how hard they tried to live like monks. And after that, well... there was the ritual... and Jacin. I'd rather not remember that either.”  


Hux rolled over and reached to play with Ren's black curls. The former Knight let him do as he wished; he liked the way Hux petted his hair, and how it soothed his anxieties. He also particularly enjoyed when Hux caressed his side, not minding when the other man accidentally touched the huge, gnarled scar over his left hip. That area was almost insensitive now and Ren valued that Hux did not skip it during his ministrations.  


As for Hux, he felt like a teenager again, all hands and not always knowing where to put them first. The contacts they had shared in that dream-like dimension between worlds were lacking some elements that they rediscovered now: the warmth of a body close to theirs, the smell of a skin, the simple weight of someone pressed against them... Ren had apparently some particular attraction to scents, as he always slept with his head on Hux's shoulder, his nose against the hollow of the other man's throat. No matter how much he moved during the night, he would always come back to that spot in the end.  


Then one morning Hux had the delightful surprise to wake up with Ben’s hand sliding around his thighs and gently stroking him while giving him some quick, open-mouthed kisses over his cheeks, the bridge of his nose and finally, his lips. At that point, Hux stop pretending he was sleeping, tangled his fingers into Ren’s curls and pulled him down for a longer, very passionate kiss. When they pulled apart, Hux panted:  


“Let me… take the sheet off the bed… or there’ll be no end to… Ah!”  


“To what, General?” Ren purred.  


“Phew… the teasing after it’s out for the laundry,” Hux managed to finish, before Ren’s hands caressing his cock finally made him come – rather too fast for his liking, by the way. “Now, that’s embarrassing,” he groaned.  


“Well, I’ll give you some time to rest, and then we’ll try again,” Ren teased. “See if you’re more – wah!”  


The undignified cry was brought out by Hux suddenly leaning over Ren’s thigh and taking him into his mouth without warning.  


“Oh krifffff – please, go on!”  


_"As if I were going to stop…"_  


Hux felt a bit smug at having such an effect on Ren, and being able to remain sarcastic even with his lips and tongue busy with his lover’s cock. A very nice cock, by the way, about average length but a bit thicker than what Hux was used to. And unlike some of his youthful encounters, Ren’s hygiene was just perfect.  
A loud groan overhead brought him back from his musings.  


“Slower, please – I won’t last...”  


_Nah._  


Hux increased the pace of his tongue along Ren’s cock, pulling out for some kisses on the tip, then went back to his work eagerly, until he felt the younger man grabbing part of his hair to make him stop. He let go just before Ren came with a long sigh, his fingers tightening into Hux’s orange locks.  


Their breathing slowed progressively and as Ren stretched on the bed, Hux got up to fetch a towel and clean them both. He suddenly felt too tired to put it back in the refresher, and dropped it on the floor before snuggling under the blankets. He could grab two more hours at least before Darina and the others poked their nose into his room. Ren nestled against him, one arm around his waist, his head resting on Hux’s shoulder and, for once completely relaxed and at peace, they went back to sleep.

* *

Hux blinked and sat groggily on the bed, not knowing at first what had waken him. Then he noticed the faint blue glow that illuminated the room. By his side, Ren was still asleep, snoring slightly. Blinking a few times, the former General could make out the shape of a man casually standing near the door, wearing a long brown cloak and old, battered boots, along with… some kind of tunic. Hux could see the door frame through the man’s chest which, combined with the blue light, told him he had a Force-ghost in his room. Ren had told him enough about that particular phenomenon, half-expecting his late uncle to reappear this way. So far, though, Luke Skywalker had not showed himself.  


“Greetings, General,” the man said in a deep voice. “That’s interesting, I hold the same rank at some point.”  


“Why are you here?”  


“Well, I dare say you did a very fine job with Ben. Even I could have not reached to him so efficiently. But then again, I did not develop the kind of feelings you have for him. What with being family and all that.”  


Hux sighed.  


“Were you always so blunt when you were alive, Skywalker?” he asked. “And here I thought that Jedis were diplomats...”  


“That was Obi-Wan's specialty,” the Force-ghost answered airily. “He seems vaguely pleased that Ben escaped Snoke's clutches, but curiously enough, he won't meet you.”  


“I'm a murderer,” Hux replied. “Of course he won't want to see me.”  


“Well, I'm not exactly a saint, and he still welcomed me back,” Anakin countered. “I think it's more personal than a matter of principles.”  


“And I don't want to hear it. After watching Ben wasting away while running after a ghost that did not even exist in the first place, I refuse to let any dead man dictate me how to live or not!” Brynden barked. “I tolerate this voodoo because it's also a part of me, but it does not mean I have to like it.”  


Anakin let out a warm laugh.  


“You and Ben are perfect for each other,” he said. “I may visit from time to time, but don't worry, I won't bother you much.”  


If the Jedi-turned Sith-turned Light again respected his promises, the same could not be said about his former master, and one day Hux came home to find the ghostly form of Obi-Wan Kenobi trying to lecture his namesake, while Anakin was standing nearby, rolling his eyes.  


“I happen to enjoy it immensely,” Ren was telling the stubborn ghost, “and I don’t give a damn about what the old Order could think about it, there’s no way I’m going back to being a monk just for the sake of some outdated rules.”  


“I had thought that your experience with Snoke would have taught you better than to let your selfish -”  


“Oh, stop that!” Anakin growled, suddenly reappearing besides his former master. “You've always been afraid of your own cock!”  


Hux burst into near hysterical laughter at that, and Ren was not faring much better.  


“First, if I remember properly, you were having inappropriate dreams about your own master that led absolutely nowhere, then there was a Miss Siri - nothing again, then Satine... well, at least you _did_ something with her... and you never noticed how poor Dorme was looking at you. No seriously, for all the mistakes I made, knowingly falling in love is one I would do over and over again.”  


“You think they've always been like this?” Hux whispered into Ren's ear.  


“Small wonder my grandfather turned to the Dark Side, then...” the younger man muttered. “And I thought my uncle was too pontificating...”  


“I suggest we let them sort their quarrels,” Hux said, “and we find better ways to keep ourselves busy.”  


“They are in our rooms,” Ren pointed out.  


“And that’s a problem?”


	26. And until the end...

Poe Dameron had cast his uniform off. He had been at war long enough; it was high time to find a more useful occupation, particularly when, despite what the republican propaganda could say, you were on the losing side. The Republic only kept the Core Worlds… for now. Himself only had his piloting skills and some mechanical knowledge, a rather common set in the galaxy, plus half a dozen languages (that would be more interesting). His abilities as a squadron leader would be useless, for now. Needless to say, he would have a lot of concurrence when he looked for a job. Finn was even less lucky: he had learned the basics of ship maintenance on the Resistance bases, but out of that, his professional experience was slim at best. Right now, they did not have enough money to even rent a place, so their best option would be to travel to Yavin 4 and work with Kes Dameron on the farm he had established there after he had retired from active service.  
The older man was delighted, as well as extremely relieved, when they landed. For several weeks he had not received any news from his son, Poe not wishing to attract First Order spies on his father’s doorstep and thus remaining silent.  


“Stay as long as you wish, boys! I really would not mind some help with the farm, anyway. You’re safe here. No one will come looking for Resistance soldiers in such a gods-forsaken place. Yavin 4 is too obvious as a hideout with its connection to the Alliance.”  


“Thanks, papa. We’ll be careful.”  


With a clap on his son’s shoulder, Kes led them into the house.

* *

Once Kylo Ren had promised Hux to show him the ways of the Force. And true to his word, Ben summoned Brynden one morning in the training room and Hux found him sitting on a mat with a pair of wooden swords in front of him.  


“We can start with the basic of sword fight,” Ben announced, “or how to meditate and clear your mind. Whatever you want to try first.”  


Hux thought about it for a moment, then answered:  


“Meditation first, I think. I have a long day of negotiations with the Toydarians tomorrow, and I need to be as calm as possible. Perhaps I could even reach a bit into their minds.”  


Ben chuckled.  


“Good luck with that. The Toydarians are Force-resistant. Well, you can't mind-trick them, at least.”  


“Fuck,” Brynden groaned, sitting gracelessly on the mat, facing Ben. “Here goes my dream of having an easy day.”  


This time, the younger man laughed aloud and reached to pat Hux on the knee.  


“Hey, if you want, I can go with you. Even if I can't read any thought, I could still check their body language,” Ben offered.  


He had not gone into public places since his retrieval and had only begun to socialize with the rest of the clan less than a month before, so it would be a huge effort for him - and Brynden felt immensely touched by the gesture.  


“I would like that very much,” he said. “So... Meditation? And yes, I'll take you with me. Another pair of eyes and ears cannot hurt. Pity that your cousin is away, we could have used her talents as well.”  


Indeed, for the time being, Rey was traveling on her own, looking for Force-sensitive creatures, exploring planets… They would receive a message at odd intervals, but so far she did not seem too keen on coming back, at least not permanently.  


She did pay a visit, however, several weeks after the treaty had been signed with the Toydarians. Armea, one of Darina’s daughters, was in the hangar to greet her. After some questions from both sides regarding their respective health and success so far, Rey wished to pay a visit to her cousin, hoping to find him less moody than usual.  


“I think he must be sparring with Brynden right now,” Armea informed her.  


Rey thanked her and went to the ship’s training room, pausing on the doorstep to enjoy the show.  


Hux and Ben had very different fighting styles, mostly due to their gap in weight and musculature. What Hux lacked in strength, he compensated with speed and, as she noticed, he could get vicious when he wanted the fight to end quickly. He was not above targeting his opponent’s eyes, for instance, or biting them if they were close enough, or kicking them in the groin (something, she had discovered a long time ago, that worked just as painfully on men and women). Hux’s tendencies annoyed Ben to no end, since he had been taught to fight properly and (somewhat) honorably, and more than once during their training session did he receive a blow that would have disqualified Hux in a formal match.  


They stopped and exchanged salutes about ten minutes after her arrival, and noticed her presence only then.  


“Hello, Rey. I trust your last trip went well?” Hux asked while throwing a towel at Ben, who nodded at his cousin before drying the sweat from his face.  


“Excellent, in fact. I managed to have two new contracts signed and visited five cities. I bought plenty of funny stuff: food, toys for the kids...”  


Hux had brightened a bit at the mention of toys, and now looked quite disappointed, making Ben guffaw behind his back.  


“I’ll help them unpack,” Ben offered, and promptly left the training room.  


“Help the crew, my left foot,” Rey grumbled. “He wants to steal some food for himself. Or perhaps for you,” she added with a wink.  


Hux shrugged.  


“How do you manage?” she asked.  


“Learning how to use the Force, or your cousin?”  


“Both. But mostly Ben.”  


“With difficulty,” Hux admitted. “I love the kind, academic, even artistic, side of Ben, but I know it can vanish without warning, and I’ll be left to deal with the unstable jerk who destroys everything in sight. He’s gotten better, but it’s still there.”  


“And how will you deal with that part of him?”  


“Well, the ysalamiri are still on board, so...”

* *

Soon after Rey’s return, Hux began to integrate Ren and her in all the negotiations and peace talks led or organized by the former First Order. Not everyone knew the cousins were Force-users so they could act as spies or backup easily, something that pleased Rey immensely since: one, she got to travel even more than usual and two, she was trusted with the equivalent of affairs of state.  


Ben was always somewhere at the back of the room, listening, taking notes, checking the negotiators' claims. He dressed soberly, yet the clothes were very good quality rather than the torn and ratty cloak he had worn during his time as Kylo Ren. A lot of fine wool and linen, leather for the boots and belt, and - oh, the extravagance - one of Brynden's relatives had offered him a piece of dark brown silk that could be used either as a scarf or a sash.  


Hux had also traded his old clothes for a more formal suit that, ironically, looked remarkably like his First Order uniform. Charcoal grey and dark red were his colours, no matter their political meaning. Ben never missed an opportunity to watch him when he wore those clothes. His lover being so elegant was a very effective turn-on.  


Hux was able to check that fact about three months after Rey came back from her family time on Naboo. They were, once again, up for a round of diplomatic meetings, set around a ball, much to the young woman’s dismay (long dresses, heels and dancing were not among Rey’s favorites, for some reason their high-society hosts did not get…) To their surprise and though he remained as taciturn as ever, Ben proved a very efficient distraction for the adverse party. Some were shamelessly checking the young man out (and Rey had to squash some murderous impulses emanating from Hux - Maker, the man _was_ possessive!) and others were positively delighted when he invited them for a dance.  


“I wonder where he learned,” Rey mused.  


“His mother, probably,” Hux answered. “Being a princess leads to some obligations.”  


“Ben is not a prince,” Rey scoffed. “But I must admit, he's good at this fancy stuff.”  


“Very good...”  


A glance at Hux told her the man was not paying attention to her anymore, his gaze locked on Ben's graceful steps, a dreamy smile slowly stretching his lips. Rey rolled her eyes; it was like watching Poe and Finn all over again, though Hux and Ben were a bit more dignified.  


She left him to his daydreams, and went to pick a drink and possibly a dance partner. There was no lack of choice in the crowd gathered on the plazza. Hux was only shaken from his musings when Darina joined him.  


“Won't you go and dance with him?” she suggested.  


He hesitated, still reluctant to show his relationship in public. Darina rolled her eyes.  


“Sometimes I wonder how you can be so brilliant and the next minute, so completely dense,” she groaned. “Find him. Invite him, and don't let him go until the reception had ended. And even after that.”  


He raised his hands in mock surrender.  


“Fine, fine. I'll dot just that.”  


But as he turned towards the dancers, he noticed Ren had vanished.  


_Outside_ , the other man's voice said in his head.  


Making sure no one followed him (old habits died hard), Hux left the hall and strode out on the patio then began to explore the grounds. The City Hall stood in the middle of lush gardens planted with specimens of every single plant growing on the planet, the most spectacular species being illuminated by lamps specially designed to bring out their strange shapes or colours. Hux had never been a fan of horticulture but he appreciated the effort nonetheless. Walking around a voluminous bush covered with tiny, white bell-shaped flowers, he finally found Ren sitting on a bench.  


“What are you doing here?” Hux wondered. “You seemed to have a wonderful time.”  


“Indeed, but I think I reached my limit for tonight,” Ren replied with a sigh. “I thought it would be better to leave before I caused a scene.”  


Hux nodded, then walked to the bench, standing in front of Ren.  


“Do you need... anything?” he inquired.  


A mischievous grin suddenly crossed Kylo's tired face.  


“I heard you wished to dance with me,” he said. “I'd like to grant you that.”  


“Wait... what?”  


Before Hux could object more, Ren was standing up, one hand curling around the other man's fingers, the other at his waist.  


“Let's dance, then.”  


They could faintly hear music through an open window but soon they began waltzing around on their own melody, Hux focusing on not stepping on a stone or a root to avoid thinking about how all of this would never be permanent, or that Ren would still require years of therapy to be close to normal, or rather, what he should have been from the beginning.  


“Want to go back to your room?” Hux suggested after several minutes, once the tune coming from the main room had changed.  


“Planning something, General?”  


“Perhaps...”  


Ren followed him eagerly as Hux led him through the maze of corridors to the Knight’s room. As they opened the door, he called for the lights at thirty percent, bright enough to see what they were doing while remaining relatively intimate. Ren quickly discarded his formal robes, unlike Hux who stalled and slowed the process as much as he could, something he did more and more since the other man had completely recovered from his bout of illness following Snoke’s death.  


He looked away, his movements suddenly awkward.  


“There is not much to see...” he mumbled under his breath.  


Ben would disagree: Hux had regained most of his weight since he had left the Order and got some muscles in the process, which could not hurt, and he had trimmed his beard enough not to look like an undersized Wookie anymore. Was he embarrassed by his scars?  


He had gathered quite the collection, despite never meeting the wrong end of a lightsaber. The white punctures left over his ribs by shrapnel all those years ago, the burn marks on his ankles and wrists, and the still purplish line of a vibroblade along his left arm. No one would accuse him of hiding behind his desk again.  


“Come here,” Ben told him. “Let me see for myself, please.”  


“It's kind of you,” Hux said, still staring at the floor. “I just can't.... forget his voice, all the things he repeated over and over for two decades.” _Failure. Disappointment. Useless. Stupid. Craven. Weak._  


“I know you won't be able to forget it,” Ben told him, his hand carding through Hux's hair, “but the man is dead, you killed him, his opinion does not matter anymore. Please, believe me when I say you did a splendid job - you're not a failure. Your daughters could tell you the same. I'm sure they've already told you, in fact.”  


He pulled Hux closer, then pushed at his shoulders to make him lie on the bed, all the while touching his chest and belly, petting his sides until the older man relaxed. A pillow soon found its way under Hux’s hips and Ben knelt between his spread legs, reaching for the small bottle of gel he had stored in the nightstand.  


“Doesn’t hurt to be prepared, eh?” Hux chuckled, before he gasped when a finger covered in cold lubricant touched his entrance.  


He took in a deep breath, making himself relax around the intrusion. Ben’s long finger brushed quite pleasantly against his prostate and soon he slid a second in, stretching the muscles until Hux signaled him he wanted more.  


“Come on… you know I’m not made of glass, and we’ve done it often enough...”  


Smiling, Ben pulled Hux’s hips until they were resting against his thighs. He withdrew his fingers and poured some more gel onto his palm, generously coating his cock. Guiding himself with his free hand, he slowly penetrated the other man, earning an endless string of moans and endearments from his lover. Once he was fully sheathed, Ben remained still for a moment, allowing Hux to accommodate him. Then he slightly withdrew before plunging back into the warm, welcoming body under him. Hux gripped his shoulders, pulling onto him until he was close enough to be kissed, the officer’s long, bony fingers constantly caressing Ben’s back and buttocks, pressing here and there along with the pace of his lover’s thrusts. Ben loved this closeness, the trust it implied, the complete lack of fear, the warmth in Hux’s eyes that was reserved to so very few people… He was glad to be included among them. Bending to kiss Hux’s neck, Ben slid a hand between them, stroking his lover’s length slowly until Hux squirmed and asked for more. Ben complied with a satisfied smile, increasing his pace, making the other man bounce lightly on his lap. A giggle escaped Hux’s lips and soon Ben could add “laughing climax” to his list of first-times.  


After they caught their breath again, they remained on the bed, too tired to move, even for a towel. That would have to wait. Hux was beginning to feel drowsy when Ben’s hands went back to caress him, though more lightly than before.  


“I am quite fond of this body, slim as it is,” Ben muttered, going back to their previous conversation. “There, see ? I can fit perfectly around it.”  


Hux let out a laugh when Ren pressed his chest against him, his long arms wrapped around the other's form. He had not felt so warm for a long time and he twisted between Ren's arms to give him a languid, almost lazy kiss the former Knight returned with enthusiasm.  


“Comfortable,” the man said in a falsely bored voice. “I could get used to it.”  


Ben chuckled at that and snaked an arm around Hux's waist to pull him closer. He had finally found the rest he had so desperately wished for and tried to get from all the wrong places.  


May this last until the very last day of their lives, and that day be as far from now as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the end of this story.  
> I have several drafts here and there in my SW folder, a Fox!Hux, an ABO universe and something inspired by Jeusus' viking AU among them. Something you would like to read first ?  
> Many thanks to all for reading, commenting or leaving a kudo, that's the author's fuel :)


End file.
